LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Gl  FT    OF 

Class 


MEMORANDA  OF  A  RESIDENCE 


AT  THE 


COURT  OF  LONDON, 


COMPRISING    INCIDENTS    OFFICIAL    AND    PERSONAL 


FROM    1819    TO    1825. 


INCLUDING    NEGOTIATIONS 


ON     THE     OREGON     QUESTION, 


AND    OTHER    UNSETTLED    QUESTIONS 


BETWEEN    THE 


UNITED   STATES  AND  GrREAT  BRITAIN. 


Br  RICHARD  RUSH, 


ENVOY  EXTRAORDINARY   AND   MINISTER  PLENIPOTENTIARY  FROM  THE  UNITED 
STATES,    FROM    1817    TO    1825. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

LEA  &  BLANCHARD. 

1845. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1845,  by 
LEA  &  BLANCHARD, 

In  the  Clerk's   Office   of  the   District   Court  of  the    Eastern   District  of 
Pennsylvania. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 
Introductory  Remarks 

CHAPTER  I. 

Interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh  on  the  affairs  of  Spanish  America. 
Dinner  at  the  Portuguese  Ambassador's,  to  the  Archduke  Maximilian 
of  Austria — Relative  expense  of  the  British  and  American  Army  and 
Navy  13 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Old  Bailey,  Guildhall,  and  Doctor's  Commons— opinion  delivered 
by  Sir  William  Scott,  Judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Admiralty 

CHAPTER   III. 

Interview  with  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  and  Mr.  Wilberforce  on  the 
subject  of  the  Slave  Trade — official  correspondence  with  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  on  the  subject 29 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Weeks's  Museum — its  extraordinary  collection. — Royal  Chapel,  White 
hall. — Levee  at  Carlton  House— Austrian  Court  at  the  Congress  of 
Vienna. — Interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh  on  Spanish  American 

A 


VI  CONTENTS. 

affairs  and  other  subjects. — The  cases  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister  to 
be  brought  before  Parliament. — Dinner  at  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne's 
— Sir  James  Macintosh. — Vote  of  the  House  of  Representatives  re 
fusing  to  censure  General  Jackson. — News  of  the  cession  of  the 
Floridas  to  the  United  States,  arrives  in  London. — Note  to  Lord 
Castlereagh  on  extra  duties  charged  on  vessels  of  the  United  States.  .  46 

CHAPTER  V. 

Dinner  at  Prince  Esterhazy's. — Remarkable  incident  at  it. — Dinner  at 
Lord  Teignmouth's. — Interview  with  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  relative  to  the  extra  duties. — Letter  to  the  Consul  of  the 
United  States  at  Liverpool  in  connexion  with  this  subject. — Dinner 
at  the  Spanish  Ambassador's. — Motion  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the 
cases  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister. — English  Foreign  Enlistment 
Bill. — Party  at  the  Countess  of  Jersey's;  at  Countess  Grosvenor's.  . .  63 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Autograph  Letter  from  the  President  to  the  Prince  Regent. — Emigrants 
from  England  to  the  United  States. — Dinner  at  Mr.  William 
Vaughan's. — Dinner  at  Mr.  Inglis's — Mr.  Wilberforce — Dr.  Johnson. 
— Dinner  at  the  Spanish  Ambassador's. — Levee  at  Carlton  House. 
— Special  Audience  of  the  Prince  Regent. — Conversation  on  Ameri 
can  Interests  at  the  Levee 82 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Marriages  of  the  Dukes  of  Cambridge,  Clarence  and  Kent. — Forms 
between  Governments  on  such  occasions. — Drawing  Room  on  the 
Prince  Regent's  Birth-day. — Court  Forms. — Rumors  of  Ministerial 
Changes. — Interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh  on  the  West  India  Trade. 
Rumors  about  Cuba. — Dinner  at  the  Russian  Ambassador's. — Prince 
Regent's  Drawing  Room. — Dinner  at  Lord  Castlereagh's. — The 
Rumor  about  Cuba. — Lord  Castlereagh  pays  a  compliment  to  the 
United  States 96 


CONTENTS.  Vll 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Party  at  Carlton  House. — Conversation  about  Cuba.— Dinner  at  Mr. 
George  Phillips's.— Dinner  at  Mr.  Trail's. — The  Box  presented  by 
the  Earl  of  Buchan  to  General  Washington. — Note  from  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  on  Special  Audiences  of  the  Prince  Regent. — Dinner  at  the 
Duke  of  Wellington's.— Letter  to,  Mr.  Gallatin— Cuba— The  Florida 
Treaty— The  West  India  Tradjs.  Party  at  Grosvenor  House. 
Arrival  of  the  American  Steam-ship  Savannah,  at  Liverpool 115 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Visit  to  Holkham,  the  estate  of  Mr.  Coke,  Norfolk  county— The  Sheep 
Shearing.  Prorogation  of  Parliament.  Entertainment  at  Carlton 
House — Lord  Castlereagh  speaks  of  the  Florida  Treaty — what  he 
afterwards  says  on  that  subject,  and  on  the  cases  of  Arbuthnot  and 
Ambrister,  at  the  Austrian  Ambassador's 132 


CHAPTER  X. 

Order  in  Council  prohibiting  the  Exportation  of  Arms  to  Spain.  Party 
at  Prince  Leopold's.  Letters  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  and  Colonel  Trumbull. 
Dinner  at  the  Vice  Chancellor's.  Notice  of  certain  measures  of 
Parliament,  amongst  them,  Mr.  Peel's  Report  on  the  Currency 154 


CHAPTER   XL 

Entertainment  at  the  French  Ambassador's — the  Florida  Treaty. 
Brewery  of  Trueman,  Hanbury  and  Company.  Dinner  at  Lord 
Castlereagh's,  North  Cray — American  Flying  Squirrels  and  Hum 
ming  Birds — Anecdote  of  the  Persian  Ambassador.  Interview 
with  Lord  Castlereagh  on  the  West  India  Trade  and  other  subjects. 
Mr.  Stratford  Canning  Appointed  Minister  to  the  United  States. 
Dinner  at  Mr.  Lyttelton's 177 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Dinner  at  the  Traveller's  Club.  Armaments  in  aid  of  the  Spanish 
American  cause,  Dinner  at  Baron  Fagel's,  Ambassador  from  the 
Netherlands.  Prizes  taken  by  the  Spanish  Americans,  not  admitted 
into  English  ports.  Interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh  on  the  Slave 
Trade.  Official  Notes  on  that  subject — and  Parliamentary  Addresses.  206 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Number  of  American  Vessels  in  British  Ports.  Dinner  at  the  Chan 
cellor  of  the  Exchequer's.  Opening  of  Parliament — an  early  session 
called  on  account  of  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country.  Levee  at 
Carlton  House.  Fete  at  the  Spanish  Ambassador's — the  Horse 
Guards  called  out.  Duty  on  Tobacco,  Snuff  and  Hops.  Dinner  at 
Mr.  Colquhoun's.  Interview  on  official  subjects  with  Lord  Castle 
reagh.  England  consents  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  as  Umpire 
under  the  Disputed  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent 228 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Death  of  the  Duke  of  Kent.  Death  of  George  the  Third.  Solemni 
ties  and  Ceremonies  connected  with  the  Demise  of  the  Crown. 
The  Prince  Regent  ascends  the  Throne.  Dissolution  of  Parliament 
determined  upon.  State  of  things  between  the  King  and  Princess 
of  Wales.  Interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh — Cato  Street  Conspira 
cy.  Dinner  at  the  Traveller's  Club.  Dinner  at  Mr.  Stratford  Can 
ning's.  Measures  of  Parliament  under  the  disturbed  state  of  the 
country.  Dinner  at  Sir  Edmund  Antrobus's ;  at  Mr.  Holland's 243 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Dinner  at  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne's.  Interview  with  Earl  Bathhurst 
on  the  subject  of  presents  to  the  American  Indians.  Funeral  of 


CONTENTS.  IX 

Mr.  West,  President  of  the  Royal  Academy.  Duels  between  Naval 
Officers  of  the  United  States  and  British  Officers  at  Gibraltar.— In 
terview  with  the  Colonial  Secretary  of  State  on  this  subject.  Din- 
ner  at  the  Middle  Temple  with  Mr.  George  Joy.  Dinner  at  Lord 
Harrowby's  ;  at  Lord  Castlereagh's  ;  at  Mr.  Robinson's 275 

; 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Visit  from  Mr.  Wilberforce — the  Slave  Trade — Piracy — Impressment. 
Cato  Street  Conspiracy — Five  of  the  Conspirators  convicted  and  exe 
cuted.  Droits  of  the  Crown.  Dinner  at  Lord  Melville's — death  of 
Commodore  Decatur.  Visit  to  the  Royal  Arsenal  at  Woolwich. 
Arrival  of  the  Queen,  late  Princess  of  Wales,  at  Dover.  Special 
audience  of  the  King.  Dinner  at  Prince  Leopold's.  Dinner  at  Lord 
Castlereagh's — Unusual  incidents  at  it.  The  King's  Levee — Con 
versation  with  Mr.  Canning  on  the  public  speaking  in  the  two 
Houses  of  Parliament.  Dinner  at  Mr.  Canning's 294 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh  on  the  West  India  Trade,  and  other 
subjects.  Umpirage  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  under  the  Disputed 
Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent.  Dinner  at  the  Duke  of  Welling 
ton's;  at  Lord  Castlereagh's;  at  Mr.  Planta's;  at  the  Duke  of  Sus 
sex's.  The  Dispute  between  the  King  and  Queen.  Revolution  in 
Spain.  Course  of  the  British  Government  in  relation  to  it 315 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Trial  of  the  Queen.  American  Vessels  bound  to  French  Ports,  land 
their  Cargoes  in  England  under  the  Warehousing  System.  Contin 
uation  of  the  Queen's  Trial. — Mr.  Brougham.  Dinner  at  the  French 
Ambassador's  at  Harrow,  in  honor  of  the  Birth  of  the  Duke  of  Bor 
deaux.  Ratification  of  the  Florida  Treaty.  Dinner  at  the  Spanish 
Ambassador's.  Termination  of  the  Queen's  Trial. — London  illumi- 


CONTENTS. 

nated.  Dinner  at  Mrs.  Porter's — Anecdotes  of  Napoleon.  Dinner 
at  the  French  Ambassador's,  Portland  Place.  Dinner  at  Mr.  Trot 
ter's.  Prorogation  of  Parliament.  Letter  to  Mr.  Crawford,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury.  Parliamentary  Report  on  the  Foreign  Trade 
of  England.  Interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh — Umpirage  of  the 
Emperor  Alexander  under  the  Treaty  of  Ghent.  Correspondence 
between  the  Minister  of  State  at  Madrid  and  the  British  Ambassador, 
respecting  the  Florida  Treaty.  Party  at  Prince  Esterhazy's 336 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Party  at  the  Russian  Ambassador's — Certain  duties  of  British  Ambas 
sadors  and  Ministers — Language  of  Official  Diplomatic  Notes.  Le 
vee  at  Carlton  Palace — Special  Audience  of  the  King  to  deliver  Au 
tograph  Letters  from  the  President,  on  the  Death  of  the  Dutthess  of 
York,  and  recall  of  Sir  Charles  Bagot  from  his  Mission  to  Washing 
ton.  The  Coronation.  Dinner  at  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry's, 
(late  Lord  Castlereagh.)  Fete  Champetre  at  North  Cray,  given  by 
the  Marchioness  of  Londonderry  in  honor  of  the  Coronation.  Din 
ner  at  the  King's.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  gives  a  dinner  in  honor 
of  the  Coronation,  at  which  the  King  is  his  guest.  Ball  given  by  the 
Duke  de  Grammont,  Special  Ambassador  from  France,  in  honor  of 
the  Coronation,  which  the  King  attends. . 368 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Death  of  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry.  The  Foreign  Ambassadors 
and  Ministers  attend  his  Funeral.  Mr.  Canning  becomes  Foreign 
Secretary  of  England.  Instructions  for  opening  an  Extensive  Nego 
tiation  with  England.  Interview  with  Mr.  Canning  on  that  subject. 
Conversation  with  him  on  the  plans  of  France  and  the  European 
Alliance,  respecting  Spanish  America.  Relationship  of  the  United 
States  to  this  subject.  Dinner  at  Mr.  Planta's — the  Game  of  Twenty 
Questions 391 


CONTENTS.  Xi 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Communications  from  Mr.  Canning  on  the  Affairs  of  Spanish  America, 
and  steps  taken  under  them.  Further  instructions  on  the  proposed 
Negotiation.  Further  communication  from  Mr.  Canning  on  the 
affairs  of  Spanish  America 412 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Full  interview  with  Mr.  Canning  on  the  affairs  of  Spanish  America, 
and  report  of  what  passed  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
Further  interview  on  the  same  subject ;  and  on  that  of  the  Negotia 
tion — to  the  opening  of  which  England  accedes.  Mr.  Huskisson 
and  Mr.  Stratford  Canning  to  be  the  British  Negotiators.  Renewed 
interview  with  Mr.  Canning  on  the  affairs  of  Spanish  America,  and 
Report  of  what  passed 428 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Course  of  the  United  States  in  regard  to  Spanish  America.  Declara 
tions  of  President  Monroe  in  his  Message  to  Congress,  December, 
1823,  respecting  the  new  states  of  Spanish  America,  and  non-colo 
nization  on  the  American  Continents.  Their  reception  in  Europe. 
Dinner  at  the  Duke  of  Sussex's ;  at  Mr.  Canning's.  Interview  with 
Mr.  Canning  on  the  subject  of  the  approaching  negotiation ;  North 
West  Coast  of  America  (Oregon  Territory),  the  prominent  topic. 
Another  interview  with  Mr.  Canning ;  North  West  Coast  again  the 
topic.  England  objects  to  the  principle  of  non-colonization,  taken  in 
the  President's  Message.  Interview  with  Mr.  Canning  preparatory 
to  opening  the  Negotiation 455 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  general  negotiation  opens.  Subject  of  the  Slave  Trade  first 
taken  up.  Dinner  at  the  Duke  of  Sussex's;  at  Mr.  Stratford  Can 
ning's.  Renewed  interview  with  Mr.  Secretary  Canning,  on  the 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

affairs  of  Spanish  America.  Second  meeting  of  the  Plenipoten 
tiaries  on  the  business  of  the  Negotiation.  Interview  with  the  Depu 
ties  from  Greece.  Third  meeting  of  the  Plenipotentiaries ;  West 
India  and  Colonial  Trade — Navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Dinner 
at  Prince  Polignac's,  the  French  Ambassador.  Fourth  meeting  of 
the  Plenipotentiaries.  Dinner  at  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne's ;  at 
the  Duke  of  Wellington's ;  at  Mr.  Peel's.  Fifth,  sixth  and  seventh 
meetings  of  the  Plenipotentiaries.  Convention  relative  to  the  Slave 
Trade  finally  agreed  upon  and  signed.  Its  partial  ratification  by 
the  Senate,  and  history  of  its  ultimate  defeat 475 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  negotiation  proceeds  under  its  other  heads.  Characteristics  of 
these,  including  unsettled  Maritime  Questions — Privateering — Im 
pressment — and  the  Oregon  Question.  Final  Report  to  the  Govern- 
ment  of  the  United  States  on  the  course  and  termination  of  the 
whole  Negotiation.  Oregon  Question,  then  first  discussed  at  large 
between  the  two  nations.  Conflicting  views  of  each  stated 502 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Levee  at  Carlton  Palace.  Inform  Mr.  Canning  of  my  recall,  and  ask 
an  interview  with  the  King ;  a  time  for  which  is  appointed.  The 
Mission  closes  with  an  audience  of  leave  of  the  King 638 


ERRATA. 

Page    25,  line  third,  second  paragraph,  for  description,  read  inscription. 
"      55,  eighth  line  from  the  top,  insert  and  before  his. 

"  105,  third  line,  third  paragraph,  instead  of  with,  read  between. 

"  118,  fourth  line,  second  paragraph,  read  Cumberland's  for  Cumberland. 

41  147,  fourth  line,  first  paragraph,  for  Shearing,  read  Shearings. 

"  157,  read  Erving,  for  Ewing — in  foot  note. 

"  190,  eighth  line  from  the  bottom,  for  unrestrained,  read  unconstrained. 

41  195,  third  line  from  the  top,  for  America,  read  American, 

"  243,  ninth  line  from  the  bottom,  for  Sir  Edward,  read  Sir  Edmund. 

"  352,  strike  out  letter  I,  end  of  ninth  line  from  the  bottom. 

44  397,  fourth  line  from  the  bottom,  insert  day,  after  that. 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 


PLAN  AND  OBJECT  OF  THE  WORK. 

IN  the  spring  of  1833,  when  I  threw  out  a  volume 
of  the  same  general  nature  with  this,  I  intimated 
doubts  whether  the  work  would  be  continued ;  and 
as  twelve  years  have  elapsed  without  a  continuation 
of  it,  whilst  the  materials  have  been  in  my  posses 
sion,  it  may  be  inferred  that  those  doubts  were 
sincere.  I  had  objections  to  going  on  with  a  work 
of  this  description,  unless  under  the  possible  hope  of 
some  public  good  resulting  from  it. 

But  of  late,  the  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  England,  although  happily  pacific,  have 
been  assuming,  in  some  respects,  an  aspect  less  and 

1 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 

less  friendly ;  I  do  not  mean  as  indicated  by  any  of 
the  official  correspondence  or  steps  between  the  two 
governments,  of  which  I  know  too  little  to  speak,  but 
as  manifested  by  public  opinion,  and  the  press,  in 
both  countries.  International  questions  of  impor 
tance  to  both,  have  been  advancing  to  a  point,  and 
producing  public  discussions  in  both,  under  feelings 
inauspicious  to  either  nation  doing  justice  to  the 
other.  The  Oregon  question  is  one  of  them ;  and, 
at  the  present  juncture,  the  most  important.  I  have 
therefore  been  induced  to  publish  an  account  of 
negotiations,  in  connexion  with  contemporary  and 
explanatory  matter  belonging  to  them,  which  I  con 
ducted  with  England,  over  and  above  those  described 
in  the  former  volume,  including  the  whole  subject  of 
the  Oregon ;  and  if  by  doing  so,  I  may  be  able  to 
contribute  a  mite  towards  awakening  dispositions  to 
calmer  inquiry  on  both  sides  of  the  water,  I  should 
consider  myself  truly  fortunate.  I  desire  to  pour  oil 
on  angry  waves  which  seem  beginning  to  heave; 
and  however  little  may  be  in  my  power  in  this  re 
spect,  the  motive  has  strengthened  me  in  the  task 
undertaken. 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  3 

Continuing  the  work  at  all,  I  continue  it  on  the 
plan  commenced.  I  intermingle  social  and  personal 
scenes  with  those  that  are  official,  and  for  the  same 
reasons  as  before.  These  were  given  in  the  remarks 
"To  the  Reader,"  in  the  former  volume;  and  espe 
cially  also  in  the  preface  to  the  second  edition  of  it 
published  in  Philadelphia,  July,  1833,  and  need  not 
here  be  repeated.  I  keep  within  the  same  limits, 
and  lay  myself  under  all  the  restraints,  established 
in  that  volume.  In  this  volume  there  is  rather  more 
both  of  official  and  personal  matter ;  and  I  have  also 
introduced  a  little  more  of  the  miscellaneous  matter 
of  the  times,  as  these  are  now  growing  to  be,  in  some 
degree,  historical.  If  this  kind  of  companionship  to 
the  negotiations,  should  gain  for  the  latter  any  better 
chance  of  being  read  than  they  would  otherwise  ever 
be  likely  to  have,  the  knowledge  of  them  might  pos 
sibly  have  some  tendency  to  place  two  great  and 
kindred  nations  in  truer  lights  towards  each  other. 

The  power,  intelligence,  and  high  fashion  of  the 
world,  are  in  favor  of  peace.  The  King  of  the 
French  pays  a  visit  to  the  Queen  of  England,  to 


4  INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 

foster  this  beneficent  spirit;  towards  which  the 
Queen  had  led  the  way,  by  first  going  to  Eu.  The 
Emperor  of  Russia  also  pays  a  visit  to  the  English 
Queen,  "even  at  a  great  sacrifice  of  private  conve 
nience."  The  Queen,  in  her  speech  to  Parliament 
from  which  these  last  words  are  taken,  cordially 
acknowledges  both  visits,  in  the  spirit  congenial 
to  that  which  dictated  them.  Shall  Republican 
America,  shall  this  great  and  rising  nation  of  the 
New  World,  be  behind  Europe  in  fostering  this 
beneficent  spirit?  Will  England,  when  she  comes 
fully  to  weigh  the  immense  value  of  friendly  rela 
tions  with  this  country,  be  less  anxious  to  maintain 
them,  than  with  the  dominions  of  these  royal  and 
imperial  visitors  to  her  shores  ?  It  cannot  be,  that 
either  country  will  be  insensible  to  a  duty  so  pre 
cious.  The  King  of  the  French  is  reported  to  have 
said,  in  reply  to  an  address  at  Portsmouth,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  visit  to  Queen  Victoria,  that  he  looked 
upon  the  friendship  of  France  and  England,  "as  the 
Keystone  of  the  arch  which  supported  the  peace  of  the 
world"  Let  the  peace  between  the  United  States 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  5 

and  England  be  broken ,  and  who  does  not  see  that 
the  arch  would,  as  certainly,  tumble  to  pieces. 

Far  off  be  that  calamity.     With  the  reflecting 
mind,  with  the  calm  wisdom,  of  which  the  present 
Premier  of  Britain  has  given  such  frequent  proofs, 
and  the  wisdom  which  will  guide  the  counsels  of 
the  United  States,  a  rupture  between  the  two  nations 
is  surely  not  to  be  anticipated ;  against  which  their 
own  highest  interests  and  the  interests  of  the  world 
at  large,  so  powerfully  plead.      General   Jackson, 
whilst  President,  had  always  a  sincere  desire  to  be 
at  peace  with  England.     In  his  annual  message  to 
Congress  in  December  1832,  speaking  of  the  good 
understanding  which  it  was  the  interest  of  both 
parties  to  preserve  inviolate,  he  strikingly  charac 
terised  it  as  "CEMENTED  BY  A  COMMUNITY  OF  LAN 
GUAGE,   MANNERS   AND    SOCIAL    HABITS;    AND   BY   THE 
HIGH   OBLIGATIONS   WE    OWE    TO    OUR    BRITISH    ANCES 
TORS    FOR    MANY   OF    OUR    MOST    VALUABLE     INSTITU 
TIONS,    AND    FOR    THAT    SYSTEM   OF    REPRESENTATIVE 
GOVERNMENT   WHICH   HAS   ENABLED    US    TO   PRESERVE 

AND  IMPROVE  THEM."     It  is  well  known,  that  that 


6  INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 

gallant  warrior  was  in  favor  of  settling  the  dispute 
respecting  the  north  eastern  boundary,  by  accepting 
the  compromise  award  of  the  King  of  Holland, 
although  the  Senate  was  against  it;  and  although  it 
had  been  repeatedly  declared,  at  popular  meetings 
and  in  our  legislative  bodies,  that  our  title  was  com 
plete  to  the  whole  of  "  the  disputed  territory."  The 
London  Quarterly  Review  for  March  1843,  called 
General  Jackson  "a  man  of  resolution  and  sagacity;" 
and,  alluding  to  his  "anxious  desire  and  laudable 
ambition,"  these  are  the  words  of  the  Review,  to 
settle  the  above  boundary  question,  remarked,  that 
as  he  had  '-in  former  days  gallantly  defeated  us 
[the  English]  in  the  field,  he  was  stronger  in  public 
opinion  than  any  other  statesman  would  have  been 
for  doing  us  justice  in  the  cabinet." 

Whilst  we  all  feel  confident  that  the  present  ex 
ecutive  head  of  our  happy  Union  will  "submit  to 
nothing  that  is  wrong"  from  Britain,  (and  what 
American  can  ever  for  a  moment  desire  that  he 
should?)  we  may  feel  alike  confident,  that,  adopting 
the  remaining  part  of  the  noble  maxim  of  his  illus- 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  7 

trious  predecessor  and  friend,  General  Jackson,  he 
will  "  ask  nothing  that  is  not  right." 

In  reference  to  the  social  scenes  recorded  in  this 
volume,  it  may  be  pardonable  if  I  should,  at  this 
point  of  time,  say  a  word  or  two  founded  on  the 
experience  of  the  past.  I  will  simply  then  remark, 
that  in  the  pages  of  the  former  volume,  more  than 
one  hundred  names  are  mentioned;  and  coupled 
with  most  of  them,  portions  of  conversations  \vere 
given,  and  allusions  made  to  private  life  in  the  man 
sions  and  circles  of  England  which  I  frequented. 
Nevertheless,  although  the  book  has  -been  so  many 
years  before  the  public,  no  complaint  has  ever 
reached  me,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  any  one  of 
those  sources;  from  which  I  infer  that  the  guards  I 
imposed  upon  myself  were  considered  ample,  as  I 
intended  they  should  be ;  and  I  am  not  without  other 
and  gratifying  testimonials  of  a  more  direct  nature, 
that  these  allusions  to  private  life  were  not  con 
sidered  objectionable.  If,  in  going  on  with  them, 
similar  guards  were  not  kept  up  in  this  volume, 
it  should  never  go  to  the  press.  I  have  been  to 


8  INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 

England  since  the  publication  of  the  former  vol 
ume,  and  had  renewed  intercourse  with  individuals 
and  families  mentioned  in  it;  and  I  cannot  here 
refrain  from  saying,  that,  but  for  the  entire  chasm 
of  more  than  two  years  which  occurs  in  the 
present  volume,  and  the  paramount  and  absorbing 
nature  of  the  negotiations  filling  its  latter  pages, 
names  which  do  not  appear  in  them  would  have 
found  a  place,  merely  for  the  satisfaction  of  ex 
pressing  my  feelings  under  kind  hospitalities  and 
other  marks  of  friendliness  received.  Sir  George 
Staunton,  Mr.  Guillemard,  the  Duke  of  Somerset, 
Sir  Alexander  Johnston,  Mr.  Henry  St.  George 
Tucker,  Mr.  Basil  Cochrane,  the  late  Earl  of  Mor 
ton,  and  the  Buller  family,  Countess  Mengden,  Sir 
Coutts  Trotter,  the  late  Earl  of  Clarendon — these 
are  some  of  the  names  not  absent  from  my  grateful 
recollections. 

Nor  has  the  substantial  fidelity  of  the  former  vol 
ume  in  other  respects,  been  impaired,  and  my  great 
aim  has  naturally  been  to  impart  to  the  present,  the 
same  character  for  truth ;  w^hich  alone  can  compen- 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  9 

sate  for  the  defects  and  imperfections  in  both  vol 
umes.  A  single  page  in  a  great  author,  humbles 
me  to  the  dust — under  all  views  of  authorship.  If 
Horace  Walpole  somewhere  says  this,  tenfold  need 
have  I  to  say  and  feel  it.  Some  inadvertencies  in 
things  little  material,  found  their  way  into  the  for 
mer  volume;  but  I  am  justified  in  saying  that  the 
sum  of  them  does  not  trench  upon  that  essential 
authenticity,  which  is  the  sole  merit  I  aspire  to  for 
the  w^ork,  in  its  official  or  personal  parts;  and  it 
may  be  proper  I  should  say,  as  formerly,  that  I  pub 
lish  nothing  official,  whether  it  occurred  in  writing 
or  orally,  not  heretofore  made  public  by  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  in  detached  ways  and  at 
different  periods  of  time — where  not  given  out  in  full 
and  regular  connexion. 

In  the  present  volume,  I  have  perhaps  been  more 
minute  in  some  of  the  scenes  than  before;  but  it 
has  been  remarked  that  "  even  minute  things  where 
they  concern  great  characters,  seem  to  quit  their  na 
ture  and  become  things  of  consequence,  besides  that 
they  bring  us  nearer  to  the  times  and  persons  they 


10  INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 

describe."  Being  farther  off  now  from  the  times 
and  persons  described  than  when  I  ventured  upon 
the  former  volume,  I  must  hope  for  the  shield  of  this 
remark  if  ever  going  into  a  little  more  detail  in  parts 
purporting  to  be  at  all  descriptive. 

I  have  written  in  the  unchanged  tone  of  good  feel 
ing  towards  England  and  her  great  names  which 
characterized  the  former  volume,  and  which  I  desire 
to  cherish  as  long  as  we  can  honorably  keep  at 
peace ;  never  supposing  that  this  feeling  may  not  be 
cherished  in  subordination  to  that  primary  and  con 
stant  love  for  his  own  land,  which  every  American 
must  ever  feel,  and  glory  in  feeling.  Who  looks 
therefore  in  these  limited  pages,  for  an  array  of  the 
disparaging  things  in  part  composing  the  mighty 
aggregate  of  good  and  evil  in  the  national  character 
and  condition  of  England,  like  Shakspeare's  "  min 
gled  yarn"  in  the  life  of  man,  will  not  find  them. 
Moreover,  they  are  so  abundantly  promulgated  by 
the  self-accusing  portion  of  her  own  free  press,  and 
the  searching  self-examinations  of  her  parliamentary 
committees,  which  probe  and  blazon  them  in  the 
hope  of  working  out  meliorations  from  age  to  age,  and 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS.  II 

they  are  so" fully  repeated  by  writers  in  other  coun 
tries,  that  their  omission  from  a  single  book,  if  only 
as  novelty,  need  scarcely  be  complained  of;  any 
more  than  that  the  little  which  is  said  of  her  char 
acter  and  condition  is  on  the  fair  side ;  which,  though 
rarely  held  up,  may  also  be  true.  Nor  will  party 
spirit  be  found  in  this  volume  any  more  than  in 
the  former;  the  work  being  written  with  different 
objects  and  feelings. 

Having  quoted  from  the  London  Quarterly  Re 
view,  I  will  close  these  introductory  remarks  with  a 
passage  from  the  work  long  its  great  rival  in  Britain, 
the  Edinburgh  Review;  the  productions  of  each, 
belonging  to  the  literature  of  the  age.  It  is  as  fol 
lows:  "  What  is  told  in  the  fullest  and  most  accurate 
annals,  bears  an  infinitely  small  proportion  to  what 
is  suppressed.  The  difference  between  the  copious 
w^ork  of  Clarendon  and  the  account  of  the  civil  wars 
in  Goldsmith's  abridgment,  vanishes  when  com 
pared  with  the  immense  mass  of  facts  respecting 
which  both  are  equally  silent.  No  history  then,  can 
present  us  with  the  whole  truth."* 

[*  Volume  for  1828,  title  History.] 


12  INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 

B  at  al though  no  writer,  however  vast  his  compass 
and  ability,  would  ever  be  able  to  present  the  whole 
truth  of  such  a  country  as  England,  under  all  the 
manifold  combinations  of  what  is  great,  venerable, 
and  glorious,  darkened  so  often  by  ills  fearfully 
intermixed  with  it  all,  the  humblest  writer  may 
have  the  chance  of  contributing  particles  to  the 
stock  of  general  knowledge,  by  keeping  to  the  truth 
in  what  little  he  does  present,  though  his  representa 
tions  be  in  the  main  favorable. 

R.  R. 

Sydenham,  near  Philadelphia, 
May,  1845. 


MEMORANDA 

OF   A 

RESIDENCE    AT    THE    COURT    OF    LONDON 
1819—1825. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTERVIEW  WITH  LORD  CASTLEREAGH  ON  THE  AF 
FAIRS  OF  SPANISH  AMERICA.  DINNER  AT  THE 
PORTUGUESE  AMBASSADOR'S,  TO  THE  ARCHDUKE 

MAXIMILIAN     OF     AUSTRIA RELATIVE    EXPENSE    OF 

THE    BRITISH    AND    AMERICAN    ARMY    AND    NAVY. 

February  12,  1819.  Had  an  interview  with  Lord 
Castlereagh  at  his  private  residence,  St.  James's 
Square,  on  the  affairs  of  Spanish  America. 

I  informed  him  that  I  had  received  a  dispatch  from 
my  government  on  that  subject,  and  had  sought  an 
interview  with  him  to  make  known  its  nature  and 
object.  It  set  out  with  stating  that  the  United  States 
continued  to  consider  the  controversy  between  Spain 

2 


14  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

and  her  colonies  in  the  light  of  a  civil  war,  and  then 
proceeded  to  show  the  duty  of  a  neutral  state  to 
wards  the  parties.  Next  it  showed  that  the  conduct 
of  the  United  States  had,  in  point  of  fact,  conformed 
to  this  duty,  as  far  as  had  been  practicable.  It  spoke 
of  the  mediation  invoked  by  Spain  for  the  settlement 
of  the  dispute,  bringing  into  view  what  had  also  been 
the  uniform  course  of  the  United  States  in  relation 
to  that  mediation.  The  dispatch,  after  dwelling 
upon  the  progress  which  some  of  the  newly  formed 
States  in  Spanish  America  had  made  towards  an 
independent  existence,  gave  into  the  hope  that  the 
time  wras  rapidly  approaching,  if  it  had  not  actually 
arrived,  when  the  British  government  and  the  pow 
ers  of  Europe  generally,  might  perhaps  see  their 
own  interests,  as  well  as  those  of  Spain,  and  the  fair 
interests  of  the  new  States,  in  such  a  recognition  of 
the  latter  as  would  bring  them  within  the  pale 
of  nations.  Finally,  it  declared,  that  as  regarded 
Buenos  Ay  res,  the  President  had  come  to  the  deter 
mination  to  grant  an  exequatur  to  a  consul  general 
who  had  been  appointed  by  the  government  of  that 
new  state,  as  long  ago  as  May  last,  to  reside  in  the 
United  States;  or  to  recognize  in  some  other  way 
its  independence,  should  nothing  transpire  in  the 
meantime  to  justify  a  postponement  of  his  inten 
tion. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  15 

After  this  general  summary  of  the  essential  points, 
I  read  to  his  lordship  the  dispatch  itself. 

Some  parts  of  it  appeared  to  take  him  by  surprise. 
They  were  those  which  seemed  to  import  that  the 
government  of  England  was,  at  bottom,  inclining  to 
our  view  of  the  subject,  as  regarded  the  recognition 
of  the  colonies.  He  said  he  was  not  aware  upon 
what  occasion  he  had  uttered  sentiments  leading  to 
this  impression,  and  at  any  rate,  none  such  had  been 
intended.  He  remarked,  on  the  contrary,  that  while 
Great  Britain  had,  from  the  first,  anxiously  desired 
to  see  the  controversy  between  Spain  and  her  colo 
nies  at  an  end,  and  had  done  her  best  to  effect  this 
result,  it  had  always  been  upon  the  basis  of  a  resto 
ration  of  the  supremacy  of  Spain,  on  an  improved 
plan  of  government  indeed,  especially  as  regarded 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  colonies,  but  still  her 
entire  supremacy ;  that  he  thought  this  mode  of  end 
ing  the  conflict,  besides  being  the  one  pointed  out  to 
England  by  the  subsisting  relations  between  herself 
and  Spain,  would  prove  best  for  both  parties,  and  for 
other  countries,  as  the  materials  of  regular  self- 
government  among  the  colonies  did  not  appear  to 
exist;  which  made  it  impossible  to  foreknow  in  what 
manner  they  would  be  able  to  sustain  themselves 
as  independent  communities,  whether  as  regarded 
their  own  happiness  and  prosperity,  or  the  princi- 


16  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

pies  which  might  affect  their  intercourse  with  other 
nations.  These,  he  said,  had  been  the  leading  mo 
tives  with  England  for  wishing  that  the  colonies 
might  be  brought  back  again  under  the  authority  of 
the  parent  state — motives  which  still  had  their  ope 
ration,  and  must  continue,  as  long  as  any  reasonable 
expectation  was  left  of  the  result  at  which  they 
aimed,  being  accomplished.  The  intervention  of 
force  as  a  means  of  its  accomplishment,  England 
had  ever  repudiated,  as  he  formerly  told  me,  and 
still  did;  the  moral  power  of  opinion  and  advice 
being  the  sole  ground  upon  which  she  had  acted, 
hitherto,  he  admitted,  to  no  effective  purpose.  It  was 
upon  this  basis,  however,  that  she  had  agreed  to 
become  party  to  the  mediation  he  had  made  known 
to  me  last  summer,  and  the  relations  which  bound 
her  to  the  allied  powers  as  well  as  to  Spain,  held  her 
to  this  course,  to  whatever  extent  the  counsels  and 
conduct  of  Spain  appeared  to  frustrate  or  retard  the 
hope  of  success.  He  remarked  that  things  stood 
upon  the  same  general  footing  now  as  then,  in 
regard  to  the  mediation ;  it  had  been  acceded  to  by 
the  European  alliance,  but  nothing  had  been  effect 
ed  ;  the  subject  had  been  brought  into  discussion  at 
Aix  la  Chapelle  during  the  congress  of  sovereigns 
in  November,  but  no  act  followed;  Spain  seemed 
bent  upon  continuing  the  war  with  her  own  means, 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  17 

and  clung  to  the  hope  of  bringing  it  to  a  close  upon 
her  own  terms.  He  said,  that  during  the  discus 
sions  at  Aix  la  Chapelle,  he  had  found  France  and 
Prussia  labouring  under  a  belief  that  the  United 
States  desired  to  be  associated  in  the  mediation,  and 
willing  to  accede  to  it  on  the  same  basis  with  the 
European  powers,  until  he  had  undeceived  them, 
which  my  communications  to  him  in  July  had  en 
abled  him  to  do.  He  particularly  mentioned  that 
the  Duke  of  Richelieu  had  previously  been  very  de 
cided  in  that  belief.  His  lordship  expressed  regret 
that  the  United  States  viewed  the  question  of  inde 
pendence  in  the  colonies  differently  from  England, 
giving  as  a  reason  the  probable  weight  of  their  coun 
sels  with  the  colonies;  so  that,  although  my  gov 
ernment  was  no  formal  party  to  the  mediation,  if, 
nevertheless,  it  had  harmonized  in  opinion  with  that 
of  England  on  the  question  of  independence,  the 
hope  would  have  been  increased  of  seeing  the  dis 
pute  healed  the  sooner,  through  the  influence  which, 
from  local  and  political  causes,  the  United  States 
might  naturally  be  supposed  to  have  with  the  colo 
nies.  How  far  it  was  practicable  to  settle  it,  giving 
back  to  Spain  her  supremacy,  and  granting  to  the 
colonies  a  just  government  under  her  sway,  was  not 
for  him  to  say;  but  it  was  the  hope  to  which  the 
European  alliance  still  clung. 


18  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

He  admitted  that  Buenos  Ay  res  had  given  better 
proofs  of  capacity  to  exist  as  an  independent  com 
munity  than  any  of  the  other  colonies,  and  he  fully 
admitted  also  the  present  and  prospective  value  of 
our  commerce  in  that  quarter,  when  I  mentioned  to 
him  that  it  consisted  on  our  side  of  such  articles  as 
naval  stores,  ready  built  vessels,  furniture,  timber 
and  fish — without  enumerating  others.  The  whole 
tone  of  his  conversation  was  conciliatory,  and  he 
said  in  conclusion  that  the  frank  disclosure  I  had 
made  to  him  of  the  President's  views  and  intentions, 
would  be  received  by  his  Majesty's  government 
in  the  friendly  spirit  in  which  it  had  been  made. 

This  was  my  first  interview  with  his  lordship 
since  the  arrival  and  publication  in  England  of  the 
dispatch  which  Mr.  Adams  had  addressed  to  Mr. 
Erving,  our  Minister  at  Madrid,  on  the  28th  of  No 
vember,  relating  to  the  transactions  of  our  army  in 
Florida,  under  General  Jackson,  and  the  execution  of 
Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister.  It  had  been  sent  to  Con 
gress  the  latter  end  of  December,  with  other  docu 
ments  on  that  whole  subject,  all  of  which  had  been 
published.  The  dispatch  of  Mr.  Adams,  as  an 
authentic  view  of  the  whole,  had  excited  attention  in 
diplomatic  circles,  and  I  was  not  sure  that  his  lord 
ship  might  not  allude  to  it;  but  he  did  not,  nor  did  I. 
The  names  of  the  two  men  executed,  were  glanced 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  19 

at  in  the  course  of  the  interview  in  an  incidental 
manner.  He  was  remarking,  that  notwithstanding 
the  neutrality  of  England  as  between  Spain  and  her 
colonies,  the  latter  had  undoubtedly  received  aid  from 
England  in  arms,  ammunition,  and  men,  in  ways 
which  the  English  laws  could  not  prevent.  This 
led  him  to  speak  of  the  order  of  the  court  of  Madrid 
of  the  14th  of  January,  in  which  heavy  penalties 
w^ere  denounced  against  all  subjects  of  foreign  states 
who  joined  the  standard  of  the  colonists.  He  said 
that  this  order  had  been  very  much  felt  by  France; 
but  he  added  that  England  gave  herself  no  concern 
about  it,  to  whatever  commentary  the  principle  on 
which  it  assumed  to  rest,  might  be  open.  Those  of 
our  subjects,  said  he,  who  choose  to  join  the  colon 
ists,  must  take  all  consequences ;  they  go  at  their 
own  risk ;  we  can  hold  out  no  hand  to  protect  them, 
any  more  than  we  thought  ourselves  bound  to  do  in 
the  case  of  the  two  men  who  intermeddled  with  the 
Indians  along  your  borders.  Such  was  his  frank 
allusion  to  the  case.  His  lordship  hinted  at  an 
intention  which  had,  for  a  while,  partially  existed,  of 
bringing  a  bill  into  Parliament  to  check  the  aid 
which  the  colonists  derived  from  England,  founded 
on  the  principle  of  our  acts  of  Congress;  but  re 
marked  that  it  had,  hitherto,  been  abandoned,  from 
difficulties  found  to  attend  any  attempt  to  reconcile 


20  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

with  all  other  parts  of  their  system  of  law,  any  new 
prohibitory  statutes  upon  this  subject, 

February  14.  Dined  at  Count  Palmella's,  the 
Ambassador  from  Portugal,  to  whom  Mr.  Adams 
had  given  me  a  letter.  His  residence  in  South 
Audley  street,  No.  74,  is  in  a  house  which  has  been 
eighty  years  in  the  possession  of  the  Portuguese 
Embassy  at  London. 

The  dinner  was  given  to  the  Archduke  Maxi 
milian,  brother  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  Besides 
this  Prince  and  his  suite,  consisting  of  several 
officers  in  the  Austrian  service,  there  were  present 
the  Spanish  Ambassador,  and  the  Ambassador  from 
the  Netherlands ;  the  Danish,  Neapolitan,  and  Saxon 
Ministers;  M.  De  Neuman,  of  the  Austrian  Em 
bassy  ;  Baron  Bulow  of  the  Prussian  ;  the  Duke  of 
Wellington ;  Mr.  Vansittart,  Chancellor  of  the  Ex 
chequer  ;*  Lord  Melville,  first  Lord  of  the  Admi 
ralty,  and  Lord  Lynedoch,  formerly  General  Gra 
ham,  distinguished  in  the  Peninsular  war. 

On  being  introduced  to  the  Archduke  Maxi 
milian,  he  spoke  of  the  United  States,  entering  upon 
the  subject  himself,  and  addressing  me  in  English. 
Lord  Melville  took  occasion  to  say  to  me,  that  the 
Spanish  Ambassador  was  making  frequent  com- 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Bexley. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  21 

plaints  to  the  British  Cabinet  of  aid,  sent  from 
English  ports  to  the  Spanish  colonies,  and  calling 
for  a  stop  to  be  put  to  it;  which,  he  added,  it  was 
extremely  difficult  to  do.  I  said  that  our  Secretary 
of  State,  probably  received  as  many  complaints  from 
the  Spanish  Minister  at  Washington ;  arms,  ammu 
nition,  and  military  stores  were,  without  doubt, 
sometimes  exported  through  evasions  of  our  laws, 
impossible  to  be  prevented,  and  Spain  was  too 
weak  on  the  ocean  to  capture  them  on  their  way 
to  the  colonies,  as  contraband;  which  she  was  at 
liberty  to  do,  if  able.  Here  was  the  difficulty,  and 
the  law  breakers  knew  it. 

At  dinner,  I  sat  between  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  and  Lord  Lynedoch.  Speaking  of  the 
property  tax,  the  former  mentioned,  that  the  four 
largest  incomes  in  the  kingdom,  as  returned  under 
it  while  in  operation,  were  those  of  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  Earl  Grosvenor,  the  Marquis  of 
Stafford,  and  the  Earl  of  Bridge  water;  these,  he 
said,  were  the  richest  peers  in  England,  and  there 
were  no  commoners  whose  incomes  were  returned  as 
large.  They  each  went  beyond  one  hundred  thou 
sand  pounds,  clear  of  every  thing.*  Many  incomes 

*  The  increasing  productiveness  of  agricultural  and  mining  industry 
in  England,  since  the  above  date,  has,  it  is  understood,  doubled  some  of 
these  incomes. 


22  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

among  the  peers,  and  several  among  commoners  of 
large  landed  estates,  approached  these  in  amount; 
but  none  came  up  to  them,  according  to  the  official 
returns.  Remarking  that  I  found  it  difficult  to 
arrive  at  the  precise  extent  of  the  poor  rates,  from 
the  published  accounts,  I  asked  their  amount.  He 
said,  that  in  some  counties,  as  Sussex  for  instance, 
they  were  as  high  as  eight  shillings  in  the  pound; 
and  that  they  probably  amounted  to  about  eight 
millions  sterling  for  all  England.  We  spoke  again 
of  the  army  of  England;  he  said  that  the  whole 
expense  of  keeping  it  up  at  present,  (one  hundred 
thousand  men,)  was  about  eight  millions  sterling — 
all  military  pensions  included;  and  added,  that  it 
was  about  as  much  in  pounds  sterling,  as  the 
expense  of  keeping  up  the  army  of  the  "United 
States  (ten  thousand  men  at  that  time,)  was  in 
dollars.  This  he  explained  in  part,  as  formerly,  by 
mentioning  the  very  great  preponderance  of  artillery 
in  our  army,  on  a  peace  establishment,  relative 
numbers  considered.  He  remarked  that  our  navy 
was  also  much  more  expensive  than  the  British, 
which  he  ascribed  to  our  having  the  best  of  every 
thing  in  it.  This  was  said  with  his  usual  courtesy ; 
though  I  suppose  another,  and  probably  a  stronger, 
cause  to  be,  that  we  have  not  yet  arrived  at  the 
true  practice  of  economy — one  of  the  last  attainments 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  23 

of  experience  and  skill  in  armies  and  navies,  when 
united  with  comfort  and  efficiency.  Some  of  the 
battles  of  the  Peninsula  were  touched  upon ;  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  sat  opposite  to  us,  and  it  was 
remarked,  how  fortunate  it  had  been  for  England 
that  he  was  not  sent  to  America,  after  the  peace  of 
Paris  in  1814.  I  inferred,  that  there  had  been  an 
intention  of  sending  over  the  Duke  to  command  in 
the  wrar  against  the  United  States  ;  and  I  afterwards 
heard,  more  distinctly,  that  this  measure  was  in 
contemplation. 

After  dinner,  I  had  conversation  with  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  and  the  Neapolitan  minister.  With 
the  former,  it  was  limited  to  ordinary  civilities. 
The  latter  said  handsome  things  of  Mr.  Adams's 
letter  to  Mr.  Erving,  and  seemed  anxious  to  learn 
if  England  had  taken  any  serious  exception  to  the 
proceedings  of  our  army  in  Florida,  and  the  exe 
cution  of  the  two  British  subjects.  I  said  that  she 
had  not.  Then  said  he,  "  the  newspapers  may  go 
on  to  bark;  they  bark  dreadfully  in  England,  but 
the  ministers  don't  mind  them." 


24  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  OLD  BAILEY,  GUILDHALL,  AND  DOCTOR'S  COM 
MONS — OPINION  DELIVERED  BY  SIR  WILLIAM  SCOTT, 
JUDGE  OF  THE  HIGH  COURT  OF  ADMIRALTY. 


February  22.  Went  to  the  Old  Bailey.  Nothing 
of  much  consequence  was  before  the  court.  A 
prisoner  was  on  trial  for  an  assault  with  intent  to 
kill. 

Immediately  facing  the  dock  where  the  witnesses 
stand,  I  observed  the  following  inscriptions,  printed 
conspicuously  in  panel  work  on  the  wall. 

"  A  false  witness  shall  not  be  unpunished,  and  he 
that  speaketh  lies  shall  perish.'7 — Psalms. 

u  Ye  shall  not  swear  by  my  name  falsely,  neither 
shalt  thou  profane  the  name  of  thy  God." — Psalms. 

"  If  a  false  witness  rise  up  against  any  man  to 
testify  against  him  that  which  is  wrong,  then  thou 
shalt  do  unto  him,  as  he  had  thought  to  have  done 
unto  his  brother." — Deuteronomy  xix.  16th  and  17th 
verses. 


1819  ]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  25 

I  went  next  to  Guildhall,  where  the  courts  of 
king's  bench  and  common  pleas  hold  their  sittings 
for  the  trial  of  issues;  but  neither  happened  to  be 
in  session.  Over  the  outside  door  of  the  building 
was  the  inscription,  "  DOMINE  DIRIGE  NOS." 

In  the  great  hall,  stand  monuments  to  the  Earl 
of  Chatham,  Mr.  Pitt,  and  Lord  Nelson.  A  remark 
able  portion  of  the  description  on  the  first,  has  been 
noticed  in  the  16th  chapter  of  the  former  volume  of 
this  work.  That  on  the  monument  of  Mr.  Pitt,  con 
cludes  with  these  words:  viz.,  "  HE  DISPENSED  FOR 

TWENTY  YEARS    THE    FAVOURS    OF  THE  CROWN,  LIVED 
WITHOUT  OSTENTATION,  AND  DIED  POOR."    I  next  took 

a  bird's  eve  view  of  three  of  the  Inns  of  court,  Bar 
nard's  Inn,  the  inner  Temple  and  middle  Temple,  so 
associated  with  sages  and  ornaments  of  the  law ; 
made  short  visits  to  the  Custom  House,  the  Royal 
Exchange,  and  Stock  Exchange,  and  to  Lord  Nel 
son's  tomb  at  St.  Paul's,  all  which  the  guide  books 
describe  better  than  I  could,  and  hastened  home  to 
receive  a  party  engaged  to  dine  at  my  house  on  this 
anniversary  of  Washington's  birth-day.  It  was 
composed  of  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  and 
several  of  my  countrymen  in  London:  also  Mr. 
John  Penn,  of  Spring  Garden,  descendant  of  the 
founder  of  Pennsylvania.  We  had  the  toast  belong 
ing  to  the  day;  and  what  enlightened  man  of  any 
3 


26  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

nation  can  fail  to  do  homage  to  the  great  name  of 
Washington  ? 

At  12  at  night,  when  our  guests  had  left  us,  we 
went  to  a  party  at  the  Marchioness  of  Salisbury's, 
Arlington  Street;  and  afterwards  to  a  masquerade 
at  the  opera.  At  the  latter,  we  were  in  dominoes, 
as  lookers-on  at  a  scene — new  to  us  in  Europe. 

February  26.  Went  to  Doctors  Commons  in  the 
hope  of  seeing  Sir  William  Scott  upon  the  bench, 
and  was  not  disappointed.  I  had  read  the  most  of 
his  decisions,  and  had  the  high  opinion  of  his  talents 
common  to  all.  A  salvage  case  was  before  the 
court. 

The  counsel  were  Sir  Christopher  Robinson,  Dr. 
Lushington,  Dr.  Bernaby  and  Dr.  Dodd,  each  of 
whom  spoke.  In  delivering  his  opinion  Sir  William 
Scott  dwelt  upon  the  merit  of  the  salvors,  and  ended 
with  a  decree  that  one-twentieth  of  the  cargo  should 
be  awarded  to  them. 

There  is  a  precision  and  elegance  in  the  recorded 
opinions  of  this  celebrated  judge  of  the  high  court 
of  admiralty  in  England,  which  induced  the  Mar 
quis  of  Lansdowne,  when  Lord  Henry  Petty,  once  to 
say  of  them  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  they 
might  be  studied  as  models  of  classic  style,  apart 
from  their  learning  and  ability.  I  had,  therefore, 


COURT  OF   LONDON.  27 

been  waiting  with  curiosity  to  hear  him  deliver  his 
opinion.  It  disappointed  me ;  perhaps  because  ex 
pectation  had  been  raised  too  high.  It  was  extem 
poraneous,  or  delivered  without  any  notes  that  were 
perceptible  from  my  position;  neither  was  it  long; 
but  his  elocution  did  not  appear  to  me  the  best ;  his 

manner  was  hesitating:  his  sentences  more  than 

• 
once  got  entangled,  and  his  words  were  sometimes 

recalled  that  others  might  be  substituted. 

But  labor,  it  would  seem,  must  be  the  condition 
of  all  high  excellence ;  from  which  the  genius  of  this 
great  jurist  claimed  no  exemption.  At  a  subsequent 
day  in  England,  on  one  of  the  many  occasions  when 
it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  at  the  hospitable  table 
of  Sir  Robert  Harry  Inglis,  Mr.  Coleridge  was  of 
the  company.  Sir  William  Scott  being  spoken  of. 
and  my  admiration  of  his  talents  expressed,  under 
the  salvo  that  we,  in  the  United  States,  could  not 
always  accede  to  his  doctrines  on  neutral  rights, 
Mr.  Coleridge  said,  that  nothing  could  exceed  the 
care  with  which  he  wrote  out  and  corrected  his  opi 
nions  ;  that  to  the  decree,  as  orally  pronounced  in 
court,  he  of  course  held  himself  bound ;  but  the  lan 
guage  and  arrangement,  he  would  vary  at  pleasure. 
Not  only  would  he  change  words  while  the  opinion 
was  passing  through  the  press,  but  re-construct  whole 
sentences ;  and  an  instance  was  alluded  to  in  which. 


28  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

after  an  anxious  correction  of  the  proof  sheet,  and  a 
revise  after  that,  the  type  was  nearly  all  pulled 
down  to  be  set  up  again  for  some  better  transposi 
tion  of  the  sentences,  or  improved  juxta-position  of 
the  testimony,  at  the  last  moments  before  publica 
tion.  Such  was  the  severe  judgment  even  in  mat 
ters  of  style,  of  this  chaste  scholar  and  profound  ju 
rist. 

"  How  finished  with  illustrious  toil  appears, 
This  small,  well-poliahed,  gem,  the  work  of  years." 


COURT  OF  LONDON,  29 


CHAPTER  IIL 

INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  MARQUIS  OF  LANSDOWNE  AND 
MR.  WILBERFORCE  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  THE  SLAVE 
TRADE.— OFFICIAL  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  LORD  CAS- 
TLEREAGH  ON  THE  SUBJECT. 

March  4.  The  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  and  Mr. 
Wilberforce  call  upon  me  on  the  business  of  the 
slave  trade.  The  former  had  written  rne  a  note  re 
questing  the  interview,  and  I  named  to-day. 

He  said,  that  knowing  the  real  anxiety  of  the 
United  States  to  see  the  downfall  of  the  slave  trade, 
the  object  of  his  and  Mr.  Wilberforce's  call  upon 
me,  which  he  remarked  was  made  in  their  private 
capacities,  was  to  know  whether  I  thought  any  mode 
remained  by  which  the  co-operation  of  my  govern- 
ment  with  the  plan  proposed  to  it  by  Great  Britain 
for  suppressing  the  trade,  could  still  be  obtained;  add 
ing,  that  he  believed  no  step  would  be  omitted  here, 
which  might  promise  the  least  hope  of  such  a  result; 
and  further  remarking  that  it  was  only  of  my  own  un 
official  opinion,  that  they  desired  to  receive  an  intima- 


30  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819- 

tion,  if  not  objectionable  with  me  to  impart  it.  This 
opened  the  door  to  general  conversation  on  the  whole 
subject,  in  which  they  both  took  part.  His  Lord 
ship  dwelt  upon  the  advantages  which  might  be 
expected  to  flow  from  the  co-operation  of  the  United 
States  towards  suppressing  the  traffick,  as  so  pro 
minent  a  commercial  and  maritime  power  of  the 
world ;  and  expressed  his  strong  belief  that  the  ex 
ample  of  their  union  with  England  could  scarcely 
fail  to  produce,  sooner  or  later,  an  important  influ 
ence  upon  other  nations.  His  direct  inquiry  was, 
whether  I  thought,  that  if  an  act  of  Parliament  were 
to  pass,  constituting  all  participation  in  the  slave 
trade  by  British  subjects,  piracy,  upon  which  an  ad 
dress  might  afterwards  be  framed  by  both  houses  of 
Parliament  to  the  Crown,  requesting  it  to  renew  the 
proposal  recently  made  to  the  United  States,  there 
would  be  any  reason  to  suppose  they  could  be 
brought  to  yield,  under  such  a  modification  of  the 
overture,  and  upon  such  a  basis,  the  right  of  search  ; 
or  whether  it  would  be  best  for  Great  Britain  to 
pass  such  an  act  of  her  own  accord,  and  leave  to  the 
operation  of  time  its  effect  upon  other  nations. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  speak  of  Lord 
Lansdowne  as  a  distinguished  and  leading  member 
of  the  Whig  party  in  the  House  of  Peers;  or  as 
having  shown  a  desire  to  carry  forward  in  that  body, 


1819.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  31 

the  anti-slave  trade  cause;  or,  I  may  add,  as  a  no 
bleman  possessing  in  an  eminent  degree  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  the  party  to  which  he  is  opposed, 
while  enjoying  the  entire  confidence  of  his  own. 
It  would  be  as  superfluous  to  speak  of  the  philan 
thropy  of  Mr.  Wilberforce,  or  of  his  long  and  zeal 
ous  exertions  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  other 
wise,  to  put  an  end  to  the  slave  trade.  The  aid  of 
such  members  to  any  plans  of  the  ministry  on  this 
subject,  (Mr.  Wilberforce  not  being  regularly  of  the 
ministerial  party)  might  well  be  supposed  to  secure 
a  support  nearly,  if  not  entirely,  unanimous  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament;  and  hence,  probably,  the  in 
ducement  with  both  of  these  gentlemen,  in  union 
with  their  own  sincere  zeal  in  the  cause,  to  this  call 
upon  me. 

In  reply  I  said,  that  speaking  for  the  United 
States  without  any  authority,  but  giving  only  my 
own  private  impressions,  I  should  say,  that  the  latter 
course  would  be  best;  that  is,  for  England  to  pass  the 
piracy  act  suggested,  as  on  her  own  independent 
footing,  and  leave  its  effects  to  time.  The  United 
States  would,  in  like  manner,  act  upon  their  inde 
pendent  views  in  a  cause,  to  the  principles  of  which 
they  had  already  and  long  shown  their  devotion,  by 
substantial  acts  of  legislation  ;  followed  up  by  every 
step  practicable,  to  render  their  legislation  effective. 
I  adverted  to  the  constitutional  grounds  which,  in 


32  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  ["1819 

themselves,  formed  an  impediment  to  their  assent 
to  the  proposed  naval  co-operation  with  Great  Bri 
tain,  and  to  our  general  objections  to  the  right  of 
search.  With  all  my  present  impressions  I  was 
forced  to  say,  that  I  did  not  think  the  United 
States  would  be  willing  to  subject  their  flag  to  the 
innovation  proposed,  in  time  of  peace;  there  were 
so  many  recollections,  fresh  and  painful,  connected 
with  the  searching  of  their  vessels  on  the  high  seas 
by  the  naval  officers  of  Britain,  that  the  renewal  of 
the  practice  under  whatever  circumstances,  or  for 
whatever  purposes,  might  naturally  be  expected  to 
encounter  strong  dislike  all  over  our  country. 

This  is  the  substance  of  what  passed  on  both  sides 
during  a  conversation  which  lasted  about  an  hour. 
I  mixed  with  the  expression  of  my  sentiments,  all 
the  conciliation  towards  England  proper  in  itself, 
which  their  own  manner  inspired. 

A  few  days  before  these  gentlemen  called,  Lord 
Castlereagh  had  sent  me  a  parliamentary  document 
comprising  a  variety  of  papers  relative  to  the  slave 
trade,  which  exhibited  all  that  had  then  lately  been 
done  by  the  powers  of  Europe  on  the  subject. 
Amongst  them  was  also  the  note  to  me  from  his 
Lordship  of  the  20th  of  June,  1818,  one  from  me  in 
answer  of  the  23d  of  the  same  month,  and  a  second 
from  me  to  his  Lordship  of  the  21st  of  December, 
1818.  As  the  first  of  these  notes  constitutes  the 


1Q19.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  33 

first  approach  ever  made  by  England  to  the  United 
States  for  concerted  naval  operations  for  suppressing 
the  slave  trade,  perhaps  this  may  be  a  fit  place  for 
inserting  it,  together  with  my  notes  in  reply.  These 
will  show  the  subject  historically  between  the  two 
governments.  It  was  followed  up  between  them, 
in  my  hands,  on  the  part  of  our  government,  until 
near  the  close  of  my  mission,  as  future  parts  of  this 
work  will  show,  when  my  connexion  with  it  ceased. 
The  subject,  at  last,  ended  in  the  8th  article  of  the 
treaty  of  Washington  in  1842,  negotiated  by  Mr, 
Webster  and  Lord  Ashburton,  which  provides  that 
each  nation  shall  keep  in  service  on  the  coast  of 
Africa  a  squadron  of  not  less  than  eighty  guns,  to  act 
for  the  suppression  of  the  trade,  in  mariner  as  the 
article  points  out — the  article  being  liable  to  annul 
ment  at  the  desire  of  either  party,  after  the  expi 
ration  of  five  years. 

His  lordship's  first  note  to  me,  was  as  follows  : 

Foreign  Office,  June  20, 1818. 

Sir, 

The  distinguished  share  which  the  government 
of  the  United  States  has,  from  the  earliest  period, 
borne  in  advancing  the  cause  of  abolition,*  makes  the 
British  government  desirous  of  submitting  to  their 

*  This  word,  as  here  used,  meant  abolition  of  the  slave  trade. 


34  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

favourable  consideration  whatever  may  appear  to 
them  calculated  to  bring  about  the  final  accomplish 
ment  of  this  great  work  of  humanity. 

The  laudable  anxiety  with  which  you  personally 
interest  yourself  in  whatever  is  passing  upon  this 
important  subject,  will  have  led  you  to  perceive  that, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  all 
European  States  have  now  either  actually  prohibit 
ed  the  traffick  in  slaves  to  their  subjects,  or  fixed  an 
early  period  for  its  cessation,  whilst  Portugal  has 
also  renounced  it  to  the  north  of  the  Equator.  From 
May,  1820,  there  will  not  be  a  flag  which  can  legally 
cover  this  detested  traffick  to  the  north  of  the  line, 
and  there  is  reason  to  hope,  that  the  Portuguese  may 
also  ere  long  be  prepared  to  abandon  it  to  the  south 
of  the  Equator;  but  so  lung  as  some  effectual  concert 
is  not  established  amongst  the  principal  maritime 
powers  for  preventing  their  respective  flags  from 
being  made  a  cover  for  an  illicit  slave-trade,  there  is 
but  too  much  reason  to  fear,  (whatever  be  the  state 
of  the  law  upon  this  subject)  that  the  evil  will  con 
tinue  to  exist,  and,  in  proportion  as  it  assumes  a 
contraband  form,  that  it  will  be  carried  on  under 
the  most  aggravating  circumstances  of  cruelty  and 
desolation. 

It  is  from  a  deep  conviction  of  this  truth,  founded 
upon  experience,  that  the  British  government,  in  all 


]  819.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  35 

its  negotiations  upon  this  subject,  has  endeavoured 
to  combine  a  system  of  alliance  for  the  suppression 
of  this  most  abusive  practice,  with  the  engagements 
which  it  has  succeeded  in  lately  contracting  with 
the  governments  of  Spain  and  Portugal  for  a  total, 
or  partial,  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  I  have  now 
the  honor  to  enclose  to  you  copies  of  the  treaties 
which  have  been  happily  concluded  with  those 
powers,  together  with  the  acts  which  have  recently 
passed  the  legislature  for  carrying  the  same  into 
execution. 

I  have  also  the  satisfaction  to  transmit  to  you  a 
copy  of  a  treaty  which  has  been  recently  concluded 
with  the  King  of  the  Netherlands  for  the  like  pur 
pose,  though  at  too  late  a  period  in  the  session  to 
admit  of  its  provisions  receiving  the  sanction  of  Par 
liament.  I  am  induced  the  more  particularly  to  call 
your  attention  to  this  convention,  as  it  contains  cer 
tain  provisions  which  are  calculated  to  limit,  in  some 
respects,  the  powers  mutually  conceded,  by  the  for 
mer  treaties,  in  a  manner  which,  without  essentially 
weakening  their  force,  may  render  them  more  ac 
ceptable  to  the  contracting  parties. 

The  intimate  knowledge  which  you  possess  of 
this  whole  subject  renders  it  unnecessary  for  me,  in 
requesting  you  to  bring  these  documents  to  the  ob 
servation  of  your  government,  to  accompany  them 


36  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

with  any  more  detailed  explanation  :  what  I  have 
earnestly  to  beg  of  you  is,  to  bring  them  under  the 
serious  consideration  of  the  President,  intimating  to 
him  the  strong  wish  of  the  British  government,  that 
the  exertions  of  the  two  states  may  be  combined 
upon  a  somewhat  similar  principle,  in  order  to  put 
down  this  great  moral  disobedience,  wherever  it  may 
be  committed,  to  the  laws  of  both  countries.  lam  con 
fident  this  cannot  effectually  be  done,  except  by  mu 
tually  conceding  to  each  other's  ships  of  war  a  quali 
fied  right  of  search,  with  a  power  of  detaining  the 
vessels  of  either  state  with  slaves  actually  on  board. 
You  will  perceive  in  these  conventions  a  stu 
dious,  and  I  trust  a  successful  attempt,  to  narrow 
and  limit  this  power  within  due  bounds,  and  to 
guard  it  against  perversion.  If  the  American  go 
vernment  is  disposed  to  enter  into  a  similar  concert, 
and  can  suggest  any  further  regulations  the  better 
to  obviate  abuse,  this  government  will  be  most  ready 
to  listen  to  any  suggestion  of  this  nature ;  their  only 
object  being  to  contribute,  by  every  effort  in  their 
power,  to  put  an  end  to  this  disgraceful  trafiick. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  great  truth, 

Sir, 
Your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

CASTLEREAGH, 
RICHARD  RUSH,  Esquire, 
&c. 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  37 

The  italics  are  as  used  in  the  original  note.   The 
following  was  my  first  answer : 


MY  LORD, 


London,  June  23d,  1818. 
51,  Baker  Street. 


I  have  been  honored  with  your  note  of  the 
twentieth  of  this  month,  enclosing  copies  of  treaties 
recently  concluded  between  this  government  and 
the  governments  of  Portugal,  Spain  and  the  Ne 
therlands  respectively,  in  relation  to  the  slave-trade, 
and  designed  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  to  this  subject  with  a  view 
to  its  co-operation,  upon  principles  similar  to  those 
held  out  in  these  treaties,  in  measures  that  may  tend 
to  the  more  complete  and  universal  abolition  of  the 
trade. 

The  United  States,  from  an  early  day  of  their  his 
tory,  have  regarded  with  uniform  abhorrence  the 
existence  of  a  traffick  attended  by  such  complica 
tions  of  misery  and  guilt.  Its  transcendent  evils, 
roused  throughout  all  ranks  a  corresponding  zeal  for 
their  extirpation:  one  step  followed  another,  until 
humanity  triumphed,  and  against  the  continuance 
4 


38  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

of  the  trade  in  any  shape  by  their  own  citizens,  the 
most  absolute  prohibitions  of  their  laws,  have,  for  a 
period  of  more  than  ten  years,  been  vigorously,  and 
it  is  hoped  effectually,  levelled.  This  allusion  to  the 
earnest  efforts  of  the  United  States  to  put  down  the 
traffick  within  their  own  limits,  merely  falls  in  with 
the  tribute  your  lordship  has  so  justly  paid  to  their 
early  exertions  in  helping  to  dry  up  this  prolific 
source  of  human  wo. 

Whether  any  causes  may  throw  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  their  uniting  in  that  concert  of  external 
measures  in  which  Europe  generally,  and  this  na 
tion  in  particular,  are  now  so  happily  engaged,  the 
more  effectually  to  banish  from  the  world  this 
great  enormity,  I  dare  not,  in  the  absence  of  all  in 
structions,  presume  to  intimate  ;  much  less  have  I 
any  opinion  of  my  own  to  offer  upon  a  subject  so 
full  of  delicacy  and  interest.  But  it  is  left  for  me 
to  say,  that  I  shall  perform  a  grateful  duty  in  trans 
mitting,  by  the  earliest  opportunity,  copies  of  your 
lordship's  note,  and  the  documents  which  accompa 
nied  it,  to  my  government ;  and  I  sufficiently  know 
the  permanent  sensibility  which  pervades  all  its 
counsels  upon  this  subject  to  promise,  that  the  over 
ture  which  the  former  embraces,  will  receive  from 
the  President  the  full  consideration  due  to  its  im 
portance,  and  to  the  enlarged  philanthropy  on  the 


1319.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  39 

part  of  this  government  by  which  it  has  been  dic 
tated. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 

with  the  highest  consideration, 
Your  lordship's 
obedient  faithful  servant, 
RICHARD  RUSH. 

The  Right  Honorable 

Lord  Viscount  CASTLEREAGH, 
His  Majesty's  principal 
Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs. 

Lord  Castlereagh's  note  and  the  documents,  were 
promptly  forwarded  to  my  government,  and  on  re 
ceiving  its  instructions,  I  addressed  to  him  the  note 
following  :  viz. 

The  undersigned,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Mi 
nister  Plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States,  has 
the  honor  to  present  his  compliments  to  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh. 

In  the  note  of  the  23d  of  June,  which  the  under 
signed  had  the  honor  to  address  to  Lord  Castlereagh 
in  answer  to  his  lord  ship's  communication  of  the  20th 
of  the  same  month,  relative  to  the  slave-trade,  the 
undersigned  had  great  pleasure  in  giving  the  assu- 


40  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

ranee  that  he  would  transmit  a  copy  of  that  commu 
nication  to  his  government,  with  the  documents 
which  accompanied  it,  being  copies  of  treaties  en 
tered  into  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  with  Spain, 
Portugal  and  the  Netherlands,  for  the  more  com 
plete  abolition  of  the  odious  traffick  in  slaves.  He 
accordingly  lost  no  time  in  fulfilling  that  duty,  and 
has  now  the  honor  to  inform  Lord  Castlereagh  of  the 
instructions  with  which  he  has  been  furnished  by  his 
government  in  reply. 

He  has  been  distinctly  instructed,  in  the  first  place, 
to  make  known  the  sensibility  of  the  President  to 
the  friendly  spirit  of   confidence  in    which   these 
treaties,  and  the  legislative  measures  founded  upon 
them,  have  been  communicated  to  the  United  States; 
and  to  the  invitation  which  has  been  given  that  they 
would  join  in  the  same  or  similar  engagements,  the 
more  effectually  to  accomplish  the  beneficent  object 
to  which  they  look.     He  is  further  commanded  to 
give  the  strongest  assurances,  that  the  solicitude  of 
the  United  States  for  the  universal  extirpation  of 
this  traffick,  continues  with  all  the  earnestness  which 
has  so  long  and  steadily  distinguished  the  course  of 
their  policy  in  relation  to  it.  Of  their  general  prohi 
bitory  law  of  1807,  it  is  unnecessary  that  the  under 
signed  should  speak,  Lord  Castlereagh  being  already 
apprized  of  its  provisions;  amongst  which  the  au 
thority  to  employ  the  national  force  as  auxiliary  to 


1819.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  41 

its  execution  will  not  have  escaped  attention. 
But  he  has  it  in  charge  to  make  known,  as  a  new 
pledge  of  their  unremitting  and  active  desire  for  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  that,  so  lately  as  the 
month  of  April  last,  another  Act  of  Congress  was 
passed,  by  which  not  only  are  the  citizens  and  vessels 
of  the  United  States  interdicted  from  carrying  on, 
or  being  in  any  way  engaged  in,  the  trade,  but  in 
which  also  the  best  precautions  that  legislative  en 
actments  can  devise  or  their  penalties  enforce,  are 
raised  up  against  the  introduction  into  their  territo 
ries  of  slaves  from  abroad,  under  whatever  pretext 
attempted,  and  especially  from  dominions  which  lie 
more  immediately  in  their  neighborhood.  A  copy 
of  this  act  is  herewith  enclosed  for  the  more  particu 
lar  information  of  Lord  Castlereagh.  That  peculiarity 
in  the  eighth  section  which  throws  upon  a  defend 
ant  the  labor  of  proof  as  the  condition  of  acquittal, 
the  undersigned  persuades  himself  will  be  regarded 
as  signally  manifesting  an  anxiety  to  suppress  the 
hateful  traffick,  departing  as  it  does  from  the  princi 
ple  of  criminal  jurisprudence  which  so  generally  re 
quires  the  independent  and  positive  establishment 
of  guilt,  as  the  first  step  in  criminal  prosecutions. 
To  measures  of  such  a  character,  thus  early  adopted 
and  steadily  pursued,  the  undersigned  is  further 
commanded  to  say,  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  acting  within  the  pale  of  its  constitu- 

4* 


40  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

tional  powers,  will  always  be  ready  to  superadd  any 
others  that  experience  may  prove  to  be  necessary  for 
attaining  the  desirable  end  in  view. 

But  on  examining  the  provisions  of  the  treaties 
which  Lord  Castlereagh  honored  the  undersigned  by 
communicating  to  him,  it  has  appeared  to  the  Pre 
sident  that  their  essential  articles  are  of  a  character 
not  adapted  to  the  circumstances  or  to  the  institu 
tions  of  the  United  States. 

The  powers  agreed  to  be  given  to  the  ships  of 
war  of  either  party  to  search,  capture  and  carry  into 
port  for  adjudication,  the  merchant  vessels  of  the 
other,  however  qualified,  is  connected  with  the  esta 
blishment,  by  each  treaty,  of  two  mixed  courts,  one 
of  which  is  to  have  its  seat  in  the  colonial  posses 
sions  of  the  parties  respectively.  The  institution  of 
such  tribunals  is  necessarily  regarded  as  fundamen 
tal  to  the  whole  arrangement,  whilst  their  peculiar 
structure  is  doubtless  intended,  and  would  seem,  to 
be  indispensable,  towards  imparting  to  it  a  just  re 
ciprocity.  But  to  this  part  of  the  system,  the  United 
States,  having  no  colonies  upon  the  coast  of  Africa, 
in  the  West  Indies,  or  elsewhere,  cannot  give  ef 
fect. 

Moreover,  the  powers  of  government  in  the  United 
States,  whilst  they  can  only  be  exercised  within  the 
grants,  are  also  subject  to  the  restrictions,  of  the  Fe 
deral  Constitution.  By  the  latter  Instrument,  all 


1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  43 

judicial  power  is  to  be  vested  in  a  Supreme  Court,  and 
in  such  other  inferior  courts,  as  Congress  may  from 
time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  It  further  pro 
vides,  that  the  Judges  of  these  courts  shall  hold 
their  offices  during  good  behaviour,  and  be  remove- 
able  on  impeachment  and  conviction  of  crimes  and 
misdemeanors.  There  are  serious  doubts  whether, 
obeying  the  spirit  of  these  injunctions,  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  would  be  competent  to 
appear  as  party  to  the  institution  of  a  court  for  car 
rying  into  execution  their  penal  statutes  in  places 
out  of  their  own  territory ;  a  court  consisting  partly 
of  foreign  Judges,  not  liable  to  impeachment  under 
the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  deciding 
upon  their  statutes  without  appeal. 

Again.  Obstacles  would  exist  towards  giving  va 
lidity  to  the  disposal  of  the  negroes  found  on  board 
the  slave-trading  vessels  condemned  by  the  sentence 
of  the  mixed  courts.  If  they  should  be  delivered 
over  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  as  free 
men,  they  could  not,  but  by  their  own  consent,  be 
employed  as  servants  or  free  laborers.  The  con 
dition  of  negroes  and  other  people  of  color  in  the 
United  States,  being  regulated  by  the  municipal 
laws  of  the  separate  states,  the  government  of  the 
former  could  neither  guarantee  their  liberty  in  the 
states  where  they  could  only  be  received  as  slaves; 


44  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

nor  control  them  in  the  states  where  they  would  be 
recognised  as  free.  The  provisions  of  the  fifth  sec 
tion  of  the  act  of  Congress  which  the  undersigned 
has  the  honor  to  enclose,  will  be  seen  to  point  to 
this  obstacle,  and  may  be  taken  as  still  further  ex 
planatory  of  its  nature. 

These  are  some  of  the  principal  reasons  which  ar 
rest  the  assent  of  the  President  to  the  very  frank  and 
friendly  overture  contained  in  Lord  Castlereagh's 
communication.  Having  their  foundation  in  con 
stitutional  impediments,  the  government  of  His 
Britannic  Majesty  will  know  how  to  appreciate 
their  force.  It  will  be  seen  how  compatible  they 
are  with  the  most  earnest  wishes  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  that  the  measures  concerted  by  these 
treaties  may  bring  about  the  total  downfall  of  the 
traffick  in  human  blood,  and  with  their  determina 
tion  to  co-operate,  to  the  utmost  extent  of  their  con 
stitutional  power,  towards  this  great  consummation, 
so  imperiously  due  at  the  hands  of  all  nations  to  the 
past  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  Africa. 

The  undersigned  prays  Lord  Castlereagh  to  accept 
the  assurances  of  his  distinguished  consideration. 

RICHARD  RUSH. 

London, 
December  21st,  1818. 

It  was  to  the  non-assent  conveyed  in  this  last  note, 
that  Lord  Lansdowne  had  reference  when  he  made 


COURT  OF  LONDON.  45 

his  inquiries  as  to  the  hope  of  removing  it  on  the 
ground  stated.  It  will  be  seen  hereafter  to  what  ex 
tent,  and  upon  what  conditions,  the  United  States 
yielded  up  their  refusal.  One  of  the  parliamentary 
documents  sent  to  me  by  Lord  Castlereagh,  attests 
how  unequivocal  had  been  the  refusal  of  France  at 
that  epoch,  to  allow  her  vessels  to  be  boarded  and 
searched  at  sea  for  slaves.  Nevertheless,  it  would 
appear,  from  a  passage  in  a  note  from  Lord  Castle 
reagh  to  Lord  Bathurst,  dated  the  10th  of  December, 
at  Paris — the  last  paper  in  the  series — that  the  former 
still  indulged  a  sanguine  expectation  that  the  French 
government  might  be  brought,  at  no  distant  day,  to 
re- consider  its  refusal, 


46  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WEEKS'S  MUSEUM  —  ITS  EXTRAORDINARY  COLLECTION.— 
ROYAL  CHAPEL,  WHITEHALL.— LEVEE  AT  CARLTON 
HOUSE— AUSTRIAN  COURT  AT  THE  CONGRESS  OF  VIEN 
NA.— INTERVIEW  WITH  LORD  CASTLEREAGH  ON  SPA- 
NISH  AMERICAN  AFFAIRS  AND  OTHER  SUBJECTS.— THE 
CASES  OF  ARBUTHNOT  AND  AMBRISTER  TO  BE  BROUGHT 
BEFORE  PARLIAMENT.— DINNER  AT  THE  MARQUIS  OF 
LANSDOWNE'S— SIR  JAMES  MACINTOSH.— VOTE  OF  THE 
HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  REFUSING  TO  CENSURE 
GENERAL  JACKSON.— NEWS  OF  THE  CESSION  OF  THE  FLO- 
RIDAS  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES,  ARRIVES  IN  LONDON.— 
NOTE  TO  LORD  CASTLEREAGH  ON  EXTRA  DUTIES 
CHARGED  ON  VESSELS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

March  5.  Visit  Weeks's  museum,  in  Tichborne 
street,  which  consists  chiefly  of  specimens  of  me 
chanism.  There  were  birds  that  not  only  sung, 
but  hopt  from  stick  to  stick  in  their  cages ;  there 
were  mice  made  of  pearl,  that  could  run  about  nim 
bly  ;  there  were  human  figures  of  full  size  playing 
on  musical  instruments,  in  full  band — though  nei 
ther  musicians,  nor  mice,  nor  birds,  had  a  particle 


COURT  OF  LONDON.  47 

of  life  in  them.  There  were  silver  swans  swimming 
in  water,  serpents  winding  themselves  up  trees,  ta 
rantulas  running  backwards  and  forwards — all 
equally  without  life ;  in  short,  a  collection  too  nu 
merous  and  curious  for  me  to  attempt  to  describe. 
There  were  clocks  of  curious  workmanship,  and  in 
great  variety.  Besides  being  musical,  some  of  them,  in 
the  shape  of  temples,  were  ornamented  in  the  richest 
manner.  The  proprietor  said  that  his  collection  in 
clocks  alone,  was  of  the  value  of  thirty  thousand 
pounds  Sterling.  His  entire  collection  he  valued 
at  four  hundred  thousand  pounds.  It  was  prepared 
for  the  Chinese  market,  where  such  articles  would 
be  in  demand  at  the  prices  he  put  upon  them ;  so  he 
confidently  said,  though  valuing  some  of  his  birds 
at  a  thousand  guineas  a-piece.  He  said  that  the 
government  of  China  would  not  permit  the  English 
to  have  intercourse  with  them  for  such  purposes, 
and  seemed  to  be  in  present  despair;  but  he  added, 
that  "  one  of  these  days  England  would  oblige  Chi 
na  to  receive  her  wares,  by  making  her  feel  the 
strong  arm  of  her  power."  The  outside  of  this  mu 
seum,  looks  like  a  common  shop  for  umbrellas  and 
other  small  wares;  as,  in  fact,  it  is,  in  front.  No 
one  in  passing  along  would  ever  dream  of  what  it 
contains  as  you  advance  inside,  and  get  towards  the 
rear. 

It  may  be  taken,  perhaps,  as  one  of  the  evidences 


48  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 

of  the  immensity  of  London,  that  although  I  occa 
sionally  spoke  of  this  collection  in  society  afterwards, 
I  hardly  met  with  any  one  who  had  as  much  as 
heard  of  it.  It  was  not,  to  he  sure,  a  place  in  which 
to  pass  whole  days  as  in  the  British  museum,  where 
I  have  been ;  that  repository  of  the  memorials  of  ge 
nius,  science,  literature,  history  and  the  arts ;  but  it 
was  a  remarkable  sample  of  that  exquisite  subdivi 
sion  in  mechanical  genius,  in  a  field  bearing  neither 
upon  the  useful  arts  nor  line  arts,  to  be  found  only 
in  a  vast  metropolis.  The  interior  mechanism  of 
the  little  spider,  was  said  to  be  composed  of  more 
than  one  hundred  distinct  pieces.  My  attention 
had  been  drawn  to  the  collection  by  a  friend  from 
Canada,  with  whom  I  went  to  see  it.  What  the 
proprietor  said  about  the  trade  between  England 
and  China,  I  copy  precisely  as  I  wrrote  down  his 
words,  nearly  five  and  twenty  years  ago;  and  it 
would  seem  as  if  he  had  spoken  in  a  prophetic  spi 
rit.  He  himself  is  in  all  probability  no  longer 
among  the  living,  tor  he  told  us  he  was  seven 
ty-six  years  old  ;  but  if  he  left  descendants,  he  may 
have  indulged  in  the  same  prediction  to  them  as  to 
me ;  and  if  the  collection  came  to  their  hands,  a 
market  for  it  in  China  may  give  them  at  last  the 
benefit  of  their  ancestor's  ingenuity  in  so  curious  a 
line  of  British  art.  The  Emperor  Charles  V.  in 
his  retirement,  had,  among  his  other  pastimes,  pup- 


1819  1  COURT    OF   LONDON.  49 

pets  that  moved  like  men ;  but  is  not  added,  I  believe, 
that  they  could  play  on  musical  instruments,  like 
Mr.  Weeks's. 

March  14.  Went  to  church  at  the  Royal  Chapel, 
Whitehall.  This  was  once  the  great  banqueting 
room  of  the  ancient  Palace  of  Whitehall.  Directly 
in  front  of  it,  before  the  large  window,  on  a  scaffold 
erected  for  the  purpose,  Charles  I.  was  beheaded. 
The  whole  service  seemed  the  more  impressive, 
within  a  building  calculated  to  call  up  in  the  mind 
of  a  stranger,  for  the  first  time  there,  associations  of 
royal  banquets  and  royal  agony.  A  regiment  of 
the  foot  guards  attended,  and  sat  in  the  gallery. 

March  18.  Went  to  the  levee  at  Carlton  House* 
It  was  very  full.  Being  the  first  held  since  the 
Queen's  death,  every  body  wore  mourning.  The 
Archduke  Maximilian  was  there.  Speaking  of 
him  with  M.  De  Neuman,  the  latter  represented 
him  as  among  the  best  informed  princes  in  Europe. 
I  again  had  some  conversation  with  him  about  the 
United  States,  on  his  introduction  of  the  subject. 
Next  I  conversed  with  Lord  Castlereagh,  who  said, 
among  other  things,  speaking  of  the  Austrian  Court, 
that  at  the  congress  of  Vienna  in  1815,  the  Empe 
ror  entertained  all  the  sovereigns,  princes,  and  mi- 
5 


50  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

nisters  then  assembled  in  that  capital;  keeping  them 
all  at  his  own  expense,  as  long  as  they  staid,  and  pro 
viding  houses  or  palaces  for  their  residence.  Some 
idea,  he  said,  might  be  formed  of  the  scale  on  which 
it  was  done,  when  he  mentioned  that  the  principal 
equerry  of  the  Emperor  had  orders  to  have  several 
hundred  horses  in  readiness,  daily,  for  the  accom 
modation  and  pleasure  of  these  his  distinguished 
guests,  and  all  who  moved  in  their  train.  Not  only 
were  tables  provided  for  all,  but  each  of  the  guests, 
including  secretaries,  aids,  and  attaches,  were  de 
sired  to  bring  to  the  tables  any  of  their  friends 
whom  the  great  events  of  Europe  might  have 
drawn  to  that  capital.  I  ventured  to  intimate  that 
such  imperial  hospitality,  having  no  House  of  Com- 
,  mons  or  House  of  Representatives  to  call  for  its 
items,  was  doubtless  agreeable  to  those  who  dis 
pensed,  and  to  those  who  received  it ;  at  which  point 
of  our  conversation,  his  lordship's  attention  being 
drawn  off  by  Lord  Westmoreland,  of  the  cabinet, 
we  separated.  lie  approached  me  again  in  an  hour 
to  request  that  I  would  call  upon  him  at  his  private 
residence  on  the  21st,  having  something  to  say  to 
me  on  Spanish  affairs. 

March  21.  Call  on  Lord  Castlereagh,  according 
to  appointment.  His  house  had  just  been  undergo 
ing  repairs,  particularly  in  window  glass,  from  the 


1819,]  COURT    OF    LONDON.  5^ 

effects  of  some  acts  of  violence  committed  upon  it 
by  the  mob  at  the  recent  special  election  for  West 
minster. 

He  informed  me,  that  since  our  last  conversation 
on  Spanish  affairs,  the  subject  of  the  mediation  had 
taken  a  decisive  turn.  Spain  had  finally  declined 
all  mediating  offices ;  there  seemed  therefore  to  be 
an  end  of  the  whole  matter,  as  regarded  any  further 
steps  to  be  taken  by  England,  or  by  the  powers  of 
Europe.  He  recapitulated  the  history  of  this  prof 
fered  mediation,  now  corne  to  nothing ;  he  went 
over  grounds  connected  with  its  origin  and  pro 
gress;  adverted  to  what  had  passed  at  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  and  said  that  if  the  mediation  had  been  acted 
upon,  the  plan  of  the  Allies  was,  that  Spain  should 
concede  to  such  of  her  colonies  as  had  not  been  in 
general  revolt,  the  same  terms,  as  far  as  applicable 
to  their  future  government,  as  were  proposed  to  be 
granted  to  those  which  had  openly  resisted  her  au 
thority.  He  also  said  that  it  had  been  suggested 
that  some  individual  in  whom  Spain  herself  as  well 
as  the  Allies  had  confidence,  should  be  selected  to 
go  to  Madrid  with  full  powers  from  the  latter  in  the 
whole  business  of  the  mediation.  The  Duke  of 
Wellington  had  been  designated  as  the  person ;  but 
Spain  had  not  acceded  to  the  proposition.  He  ob 
served  further,  that  Spain  had  made  a  request  to 
send  a  representative  to  the  congress  at  Aix-la-Cha- 


52  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

pelle;  bat  this  was  not  deemed  of  a  nature  to  be  ac 
quiesced  in.  These  were  the  main  points  mentioned 
by  his  lordship,  not  stated  to  me  on  former  occa 
sions.  He  remarked  that  the  inference  from  all 
was,  that  Spain  had  now  resolved  to  rely  upon  her 
own  efforts  by  sea  and  land,  and  on  the  supplies 
of  her  own  treasury,  for  putting  down  rebellion 
throughout  all  the  dominions  of  Ferdinand.  This 
resolution  had  come  about,  he  added,  through  the 
change  of  the  ministry  in  that  country;  an  event 
which  took  place  at  about  the  time  of  the  assem 
blage  of  the  sovereigns  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  His 
lordship  concluded  by  remarking,  that  this  rejection 
of  the  mediation  would  not  influence  the  course 
which  Great  Britain  would  otherwise  have  adopted 
under  the  communication  I  made  to  him  last  month, 
about  our  intended  recognition  of  Buenos  Ayres; 
meaning,  as  he  explained,  that  it  had  created  no  un 
friendly  sensibility  in  the  British  cabinet  towards 
Spain,  however  inexpedient  her  course  might  be 
thought. 

This  subject  being  disposed  of  for  the  present,  I 
took  the  opportunity  of  bringing  to  his  lordship's 
notice  some  additional  proof  of  the  guilt  of  Arbuth- 
not  and  Ambrister,  applicable,  in  this  instance, 
chiefly  to  the  former.  It  was  contained  in  a  printed 
document  received  in  a  late  despatch  from  the  Se 
cretary  of  State,  presenting  the  "  Talk"  sent  by 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  53 

Oponey,  a  chief  of  the  Upper  Creek  Indians  in 
March,  1817,  to  the  Big  Warrior,  principal  chief  of 
that  nation.  I  described  the  nature  of  this  talk,  and 
its  unequivocal  bearing  upon  Arbuthnot's  guilt. 
His  lordship  not  being  certain  whether  Mr.  Bagot 
had  transmitted  the  pamphlet  which  contained  it,  I 
put  a  copy  into  his  hands,  with  references  to  the 
proper  passages.  He  listened  to  all  I  said,  and  not 
without  interest ;  remarking,  that  the  subject  would 
come  before  Parliament — Lord  Lansdowne  having 
intimated  to  Lord  Liverpool  his  intention  of  moving 
it  in  the  House  of  Peers.  He  further  remarked,  that 
the  course  which  the  investigation  had  taken  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  at  Washington  was  calcu 
lated  to  embarrass  the  cabinet  of  England,  the 
speeches  of  our  own  members  having  sharply  de 
nounced  GeneralJackson.  These,  he  said,  were  cited 
and  dwelt  upon  in  the  English  Journals,  and  cast 
by  the  opposition  into  the  teeth  of  the  ministry,  who 
had  viewed  the  subject  in  lights  different  from  those 
members  of  Congress. 

I  next  made  his  lordship  acquainted  with  the  cir 
cumstance  of  the  outrage  committed  upon  the  consul 
of  the  United  States  at  Tripoli  in  September,  by 
some  negro  slaves  of  an  officer  of  the  Bashaw,  and 
of  the  part  acted  by  the  British  Consul  on  the  occa- 

5* 


54  RESIDENCE    AT    THE'  [1819. 

sion;  to  whom  a  declaration  was  imputed,  that  all 
that  had  been  done,  was  under  the  orders  of  his  go 
vernment.  I  found  that  the  matter  was  new  to 
Lord  Castlereagh;  but  he  said  at  once  that  there 
never  could  have  been  any  orders  or  instructions  of 
any  description  whatever,  going  to  sanction  un 
friendly  treatment  towards  our  public  officers,  or 
any  of  our  citizens  in  that  quarter.  He  added, 
that  the  concerns  of  the  British  government  with 
the  Barbary  powers,  were  under  the  more  im 
mediate  cognizance  of  the  colonial  department,  and 
referred  me  to  Lord  Bathurst  for  further  conversa 
tion  respecting  this  case,  or  whatever  representa 
tions  it  might  call  for. 

Before  our  interview  closed,  I  spoke  of  the  right 
of  search,  I  said  it  was  in  vain  to  disguise  the 
sensitive  feeling  which  the  people  of  the  United 
States  had,  whenever  its  exercise  on  the  high  seas 
was  proposed,  no  matter  what  the  object:  and  con 
sequently  my  fears  for  the  result  of  his  proposal  to 
us  about  the  slave-trade.  He  replied,  that  he  was 
aware  of  our  objections;  but  added,  that  as  he  did 
not  despair  of  France  and  Russia  conceding  it  in 
the  end,  notwithstanding  all  that  had  passed  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  he  would  not  surrender  the  hope  that 
we  too  would  give  up  our  scruples  at  a  future  day 
for  the  sake  of  carrying  forward  so  great  a  cause. 


COURT   OF    LONDON.  55 

March  22.  Dined  at  the  Marquis  of  Lan  sdowne's. 
The  Duke  of  Bedford,  Prince  Poniatoski,  Sir  James 
Macintosh,  Count  Ludolf,  Mr.  Adair,  former  am 
bassador  from  England  at  Constantinople,  and  Mr. 
Alexander  Baring,*  were  of  the  company.  I  sat 
next  to  Sir  James  Macintosh.  He  spoke  in  the  high 
est  terms  of  our  host,  remarking  that  his  talents 
were  of  the  first  order,  his  temper  and  discretion 
equal  to  his  talents. 

All  my  impressions  go  to  confirm  these  opinions; 
yet  I  fear  that  he  means  to  take  part  against  us  in 
the  case  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  not  only  from 
what  Lord  Castlereagh  said  yesterday,  but  other 
indications.  Before  going  to  dinner,  his  servant 
brought  in  one  of  the  evening  papers.  His  lordship 
opening  it  for  a  moment,  noticed  the  news  which 
had  arrived  in  the  morning,  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  having  refused  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure 
on  General  Jackson.  He  simply  read  over  the  vote, 
the  Duke  of  Bedford,  Mr.  Baring,  and  Sir  James 
Macintosh,  listening.  The  majority  against  cen 
suring  him,  being  46,  his  lordship  supposed  it  to  be 
small,  and  looked  to  me  for  information.  I  remarked 
that  it  would  rather  be  considered  large  for  our 
House  of  Representatives ;  a  body  much  less  nu- 

*  Since  Lord  Ashburton. 


56  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

merous  than  the  House  of  Commons.  No  comments 
were  made,  or  any  political  subject  alluded  to  after 
wards  in  that  classic  dining  room,  where  it  was  not 
for  the  first  time  I  had  been  a  guest. 

After  dinner,  I  had  renewed  conversations  with 
Sir  James  Macintosh. 

Alhading  to  the  style  of  speaking  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  he  characterized  it  by  saying  that  "  the 
true  light  in  which  to  consider  it,  was  as  animated 
conversation  on  public  business;"  and  he  added,  that 
it  was  "  rare  for  any  speech  to  succeed  in  that  body 
which  was  raised  on  any  other  basis."  He  thought 
Mr.  Brougham  the  first  man  in  the  House  for  va 
rious  and  universal  information  on  political  subjects; 
Mr.  Canning  and  Mr.  Plunkett,  on  the  whole,  the 
first  orators.  Mr.  Canning,  he  said,  excelled  all  the 
rest  in  language. 

So  spoke,  in  few  and  significant  words,  on  an  ample 
subject,  this  deep  arid  calm  observer  of  men  and 
things,  this  profound  master  in  speculative  thought: 
to  me  ever  instructive  when  I  meet  him ;  the  mo 
dern  Burke,  for  so  I  must  consider  him;  wanting, 
to  be  sure,  his  diligence  and  energy  in  carrying  on 
ward  great  public  affairs,  but  scarcely  inferior  in 
mental  powers  under  the  highest  state  of  discipline; 
in  conversation,  uniting  condensation,  to  knowledge 
the  most  abundant  and  various;  and  so  benignant  in 


1819  1  COURT    OF    LONDON.  57 

temper,  that  you  never  hear  him  harsh  upon  any 
one,  his  powers  of  analysis  seeming  to  delight  (so  it 
has  ever  been  when  I  have  heard  him  talk)  in  justly 
discriminating  the  talents  and  virtues  of  his  great 
contemporaries.  Nor  does  he  keep  back  the  merit 
of  political  opponents,  whilst  true  to  his  own  faith. 
How  rare  such  a  man,  and  what  a  model  for  politi 
cians  ! 

March  23.  The  vote  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  refusing  to  pass  censure  on  General  Jackson, 
has  produced  a  slight  depression  in  the  English 
funds.  The  newspapers  break  out  into  violent  lan 
guage.  Some  of  them,  in  attempting  to  account  for 
the  injustice  and  ferocity  with  which,  as  they  say, 
it  brands  our  character,  insist  that  it  must  arise  from 
the  existence  of  negro  slavery  among  us.  The 
Morning  Chronicle,  a  Journal  of  deservedly  high 
character  with  the  Whigs,  seems  of  this  opinion. 
Strange  opinion,  when  the  Southern  planters  in  the 
states  where  slavery  exists  as  planted  by  the  laws 
of  England,  yield  to  no  part  of  our  population  in 
solid  virtues,  and  in  all  the  elements  which  go  to 
make  up  that  high  character — the  gentleman.  That 
Washington  was  the  growth  of  our  Southern  soil, 
ought,  of  itself,  to  save  it  from  such  inconsiderate 
denunciations. 


58  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  T1819. 

March  25.  News  arrives  of  the  cession  of  the 
Floridas  by  Spain  to  the  United  States.  The  Eng 
lish  papers  raise  a  clamor,  charging  ambition  and 
rapacity  upon  the  United  States.  They  say  nothing 
of  the  acquisitions  which  England  has  been  making 
in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  by  her  arms  or  policy,  since 
the  days  of  Elizabeth  and  Cromwell !  Even  if  we 
were  to  show  some  tincture  of  ambition,  still,  as 
her  own  children,  disposed  to  act  in  her  own  spirit, 
her  journalists  might  make  allowances ;  but,  in  fact, 
we  acquire  Florida  by  fair  treaty ;  we  give  Spain 
the  quid  pro  quo  to  the  uttermost  farthing;  and  the 
last  thing  that  I  anticipate,  is  complaint  from  a  mind 
like  Lord  Castlereagh's. 

So  expressing  myself  of  Lord  Castlereagh,  I 
will  go  farther.  In  the  former  volume  of  this  work,  I 
have  borne  testimony  to  what  I  believe  to  have  been 
the  liberal  views  of  this  Foreign  Secretary  of  Eng 
land  in  regard  to  the  relations  between  our  two  coun 
tries  ;  and  I  now  desire  to  do  it  again,  on  authentic 
grounds.  The  convention  of  last  October,  pro 
duced  complaint  among  portions  of  the  people 
both  of  England  and  the  United  States ;  as  is  apt 
to  be  the  case,  after  all  treaties  between  ambitious 
and  powerful  nations,  approaching  in  any  points, 
to  rivalry.  There  were  parts  of  the  convention  not 
relished  on  our  side ;  and  those  who  were  interested 
in  the  British  North  American  Fisheries,  clamored 


COURT    OF    LONDON.  59 

exceedingly  at  the  article  about  the  fisheries,  al 
leging  that  England  had  surrendered  every  thing  to 
the  United  States.  They  even  asked  pecuniary  in 
demnification  from  the  English  government,  for 
what  it  had  given  up.  Lord  Castlereagh,  in  al 
luding  to  these  clamors,  said  to  me,  that  his  govern 
ment  was  unmoved  by  them  ;  and  that  he  thought 
it  of  less  moment  which  of  the  parties  gained  a  little 
more  or  lost  a  little  more  by  the  compact,  than 
that  so  difficult  a  point  should  be  adjusted,  and  the 
harmony  of  the  two  countries,  so  far,  be  made  se 
cure;  adding  his  belief,  on  full  examination,  that 
each  party  had  gained  every  substantial  advantage 
needed.  This  was  true  wisdom.  I  did  not  fail  to 
communicate  his  sentiments  to  my  government. 
Out-door  clamor  is  little  aware  of  the  difficulties 
which  governments  often  experience  in  arranging 
clashing  interests  between  great  nations;  and  too  little 
inclined  to  ask,  whether  it  is  not  better  sometimes, 
for  each  to  abate  a  little,  than  determine  to  face  all 
the  consequences  of  standing  out  too  stiffly  on  ground 
taken  at  first. 

April  27.  Having  received  information  through 
our  consul  at  Liverpool  and  the  American  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  that  town,  that  the  collectors  of  light 
money  and  pilotage  continue  to  demand  on  all  ves- 


60  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  ("1819. 

sels  from  the  United  States  frequenting  that  port, 
the  rates  of  light  money  and  pilotage  payable  on  fo 
reign  vessels,  I  this  day  wrote  to  Lord  Castlereagh, 
the  subjoined  note  : 

The  Undersigned,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States, 
has  the  honour  to  present  his  compliments  to  Lord 
Castlereagh. 

On  the  28th  of  September  last,  the  undersigned 
had  the  honor  to  address  a  note  to  Lord  Bathurst 
respecting  certain  extra  duties  and  charges  which, 
notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  the  convention  of 
the  third  of  July,  1815,  were  levied  upon  vessels  of 
the  United  States  entering  the  ports  of  Great  Britain, 
to  the  contents  of  which  he  prays  at  this  time  to  call 
the  attention  of  Lord  Castlereagh. 

It  is  with  renewed  concern  that  the  undersigned 
is  obliged  to  state,  that,  since  the  period  of  his  above 
note,  information  has  reached  him,  that  the  collec 
tors  of  light  money  and  pilotage  at  Liverpool,  have 
continued  to  demand  on  all  American  ships,  and 
that  the  masters  or  consignees  of  the  latter  have 
ever  since  been  forced  to  pay,  the  rates  of  light  mo 
ney  and  pilotage  payable  on  foreign  vessels,  instead 
of  those  payable  on  British  vessels,  as  stipulated  by 
the  convention.  These  extra  duties,  it  is  true,  are 


I  COURT    OF    LONDON.  gj 

refunded  to  the  American  claimants,  on  application 
being  made  to  that  effect;  but  it  is  distinctly  repre 
sented  to  the  undersigned,  that  the  return  cannot  be 
had  until  the  application  has  been  made  by  the 
claimants  first  at  Liverpool  and  afterwards  in  Lon 
don,  at  an  expense,  including  the  whole  proceeding, 
of  not  less  than  ten  per  cent,  upon  the  amount  due 
to  them. 

It  is  plain  that  so  long  as  they  are  put  to  any  ex 
pense  whatever  in  recovering  back  sums  which, 
under  the  convention,  were  not  originally  due,  its 
provisions  are  not  substantially  executed ;  and  it 
seems  alike  obvious  that  more  or  less  expense  must 
always  be  incurred,  as  long  as  the  necessity  and 
burden  of  the  application  for  refunding  is  made  to 
fall  upon  the  claimants. 

The  undersigned  has  been  specially  instructed 
by  his  government  to  draw  the  attention  of  Lord 
Castlereagh  to  this  subject;  and  he  is  persuaded 
that  nothing  beyond  this  is  necessary  to  induce  his 
lordship  to  cause  the  necessary  orders  to  be  issued 
to  the  proper  officers  of  all  the  ports  of  the  kingdom, 
but  more  especially  at  Liverpool,  to  exact  in  future 
no  other  or  higher  duties  or  charges  on  American 
vessels  for  any  purpose  whatever,  than  those  fixed 
by  the  convention  between  the  two  countries ;  a 
measure  becoming  the  more  important  from  the  du- 
6 


62  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

ration  of  that  instrument  having  been  happily  extend 
ed  to  a  further  term  of  ten  years. 

The  undersigned  takes  advantage  of  this  opportu 
nity  to  tender  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  the  assurances 
of  his  distinguished  consideration. 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
To  the  Right  Honorable 
Lord  Viscount  Castlereagh, 
His  Majesty's  principal  Secretary 
of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs. 


1819.]  COURT    OF    LONDON.  53 


CHAPTER  V. 

DINNER  AT  PRINCE  ESTERHAZY'S.— REMARKABLE  INCI 
DENT  AT  IT.— DINNER  AT  LORD  TEIGNMOUTH'S.— INTER 
VIEW  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  TRADE, 
RELATIVE  TO  THE  EXTRA  DUTIES.— LETTER  TO  THE 
CONSUL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  LIVERPOOL  IN 
CONNEXION  WITH  THIS  SUBJECT.— DINNER  AT  THE 
SPANISH  AMBASSADOR'S.— MOTION  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF 
LORDS  ON  THE  CASES  OF  ARBUTHNOT  AND  AMBRISTER. 
—ENGLISH  FOREIGN  ENLISTMENT  BILL.— PARTY  AT 
THE  COUNTESS  OF  JERSEY'S;  AT  COUNTESS  GROSVER- 
NOR'S. 

May  3.   Dined  with   Prince  Esterhazy,  the  Aus 
trian  Ambassador.     The  dinner  was  given  to  the 
new  French  Ambassador,  the  Marquis  Latour  Mau- 
bourg,  lately  arrived  at  the  English  court  as  succes 
sor  to  the  Marquis  d' Osmond;  recalled,  it  was  un- 
destood,  at  his  own  request,  not  wishing  to  remain 
after  the  Duke  of  Richelieu  ceased  to  be  Minister  of 
Foreign  affairs  in  France.  The  company  was  large, 
consisting  of  ambassadors,  ministers  plenipotentiary 


64  RESIDENCE   AT    THE  [1819. 

and  charges ;  the  Marquis  of  Anglesey,  the  Prince 
of    Hesse    Philippsthal,   and    other   distinguished 

guests. 

Dinner  was  announced  at  8  o'clock,  and  when  the 

company  were  seated,  an  incident  probably  struck 
all.  On  the  right  of  Prince  Esterhazy,  sat  the  new 
French  Ambassador,  as  chief  guest;  and  on  his  left, 
were  the  Prince  of  Hesse  Philippsthal  and  the  Mar 
quis  of  Anglesey.  Amongst  these  three,  there  were 
but  three  legs.  The  French  Ambassador  had  lost 
one  of  his  in  the  French  service,  at  the  battle  of 
Leipsic ;  the  Prince  of  Hesse  Philippsthal,  one  of 
his,  at  the  battle  of  Borodino,  in  the  Russian  ser 
vice  ;  and  the  Marquis  of  Anglesey  one  of  his,  at  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  fighting  in  the  ranks  of  England. 
When  I  attended  the.Prince  Regent's  first  levee,  my 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  number  of  maimed  and 
wounded  English  officers  present;  and,  here,  this 
evening,  were  accidentally  assembled,  side  by  side, 
three  officers  of  different  nations,  each  of  high  rank, 
and  each  having  lost  a  limb. 

O 

Getting  back  to  the  drawing-rooms  to  coffee, 
I  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  French  Ambassador. 
His  fame,  as  a  general  of  cavalry  in  the  armies  of 
France,  is  a  part  of  history.  I  have  once  spoken 
of  him  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  work.  His  friends 
dwell  with  pride  on  the  charge  he  made  upon  a  body 


1819.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  55 

of  horse,  at  the  battle  of  Leipsic;  upon  which  occa 
sion  the  Emperor  of  Russia  was  in  danger  of  cap 
tivity.  His  troops  called  him  the  Bayard  of  France; 
and  he  appears  as  attractive  by  his  manners,  as  he 
was  formidable  in  war. 

In  conversation  with  the  Marquis  of  Anglesey, 
he  asked  whether  the  United  States  had  not  lost 
much  of  the  carrying  trade  since  the  general  peace; 
and  while  on  this  topick  also  asked,  whether  large 
portions  of  the  seamen  in  our  public  ships  during 
the  war,  had  not  been  British.  I  said,  in  reference 
to  the  latter,  that  the  impression  seemed  very  gene- 
ral  in  England,  to  be  such  as  his  question  implied, 
but  was  not  borne  out  by  facts:  many  British  sea 
men,  were,  undoubtedly,  found  in  our  merchant  ves 
sels  in  time  of  peace,  as  ours  were  found  in  the 
merchant  vessels  of  other  nations,  though  not  in 
such  numbers;  but  from  our  public  vessels,  we  care 
fully  excluded  foreign  seamen,  and  had  done  so  in 
an  especial  manner,  by  positive  orders,  during  the 
late  war;  doubtless  some  had  got  on  board,  notwith 
standing,  but  the  number  was  extremely  small.  As 
to  the  carrying  trade,  I  said,  that  we  had  lost  much 
of  it,  but  our  tonnage  held  its  own  through  the  in 
crease  of  the  coasting  trade,  and  increasing  export 
of  our  home  productions;  which,  being  generally 
bulky,  called  for  a  large  amount  of  tonnage. 

6* 


6(5  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  ["1819. 

May  6.    Dined   at   Lord   Teignmouth's.      The 
Bishop  of  Doyne,  Lord  Gambler,  Mr.  Grant,  Mr. 

John  Owen,  arid  a  few  others  in  addition  to  the  fa- 

\ 

mily  of  Lord  Teignmouth,  were  of  the  company. 

I  asked  Mr.  Grant,  who  was  a  director  of  the 
East  India  Company,  if  it  were  publicly  known 
what  objects,  commercial  or  other,  had  brought  to 
London  the  Persian  Ambassador — Mirza  Abul  Has 
san  Khan.  He  said  that  he  was  not  informed  of 
them;  that  from  Great  Britain  to  Persia,  not  a  ship 
sailed  at  present,  as  far  as  he  knew,  and  there  was 
not  much,  if  any,  communication  between  the  two 
countries  over-land.  The  only  intercourse  which 
existed,  was  through  a  few  vessels  going  from 
British  India  to  the  coasts  of  the  gulf  of  Orm  us,  and 
Persian  Gulf,  where  they  carried  articles  of  British 
manufacture.  For  these,  payment  was  made  in 
the  gold  coins  of  Venice,  which  had  continued  to 
circulate  in  that  part  of  Persia  since  the  days  when 
Venetian  commerce  took  the  lead  in  the  East.  Lord 
Teignmouth  said  that  the  sequin  was  still  struck  at 
Venice,  and  found  its  way  through  Turkey  into 
Persia.  His  lordship  could  well  join  in  this  part  of 
the  conversation,  having  been  a  traveller  into  Persia, 
and  understanding  its  language. 

After  dinner  we  found   a  party  assembling  in 
the  drawing-rooms,  amongst  whom  was  Lord  Hill, 


J  8 19.1         *  COURT   OF   LONDON.  57 

whose  acquaintance  I  made,  and  whose  military 
reputation  in  England,  seems  scarcely  second  to 
any  but  the  Duke  of  Wellington's. 

I  count  it  a  good  fortune  to  have  enjoyed  the 
acquaintance  of  Lord  Teignrnouth  and  to  have  lived 
in  his  neighbourhood  in  London.  Not  speaking  of 
him  here  as  Governor  General  of  India  whilst  Sir 
John  Shore,  and  performing  great  duties  in  the 
Empire  which  Clive  founded  and  the  Wellesleys 
extended,  or  as  a  scholar,  an  author,  and  a  gentleman, 
I  will  barely  say,  that,  besides  the  hospitalities  ac 
ceptable  to  a  stranger  which  I  received  from,  him,  I 
would  gratefully  allude  to  other  and  more  touching 
kindnesses  from  himself  and  Lady  Teignmouth, 
wrhen  death  and  grief  entered  our  domicil.  It  was 
then  that  they  did  what  only  the  kindest  of  friends  do. 

May  7.  Call  on  Mr.  Robinson,  President  of  the 
board  of  Trade,  under  a  special  appointment.  He 
is  now  also  of  the  Cabinet,  I  represent  to  him  the 
inconvenience  to  which  our  citizens  are  put  by  the 
demands  still  made  at  Liverpool  for  extra  duties  and 
charges  upon  their  vessels,  and  request  that  the 
practice  may  cease  as  matter  of  right  to  the  Ameri 
can  merchant  and  ship  owner.  He  informs  me  that 
he  was  devising  a  plan  which  he  hoped  to  mature 


68  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

very  soon,  the  object  of  which  was,  not  to  require 
payment  in  the  first  instance  of  any  alien  duties  or 
port  charges  by  our  vessels;  as  the  obtaining  of 
them  back  must  always  be  attended  with  trouble, 
even  if  expense  could  be  avoided.  I  said  that  this 
was  the  only  course  to  be  taken,  and  the  one  which 
our  citizens  claimed  under  the  Convention  of  1815. 
He  agreed  to  this  construction  of  it,  and  gave  me  to 
understand  that  it  would  be  brought  about. 

May  8.  It  does  not  come  within  my  intention  to 
notice  the  correspondence  I  carried  on  during  my 
mission,  with  the  consuls  of  the  United  States  re 
siding  at  the  ports  of  Great  Britain,  the  extent  and 
importance  of  whose  duties  are  not  perhaps  suffi 
ciently  considered  by  our  government.  My  cor 
respondence  with  them  was  for  too  frequent  to 
attempt  even  summary  allusions  to  it,  though  some 
times  it  embraced  subjects  of  high  and  delicate 
international  concern ;  but  a  letter  to  the  consul  at 
Liverpool,  written  to-day,  is  inserted,  relating,  as  it 
mainly  does,  to  the  construction  of  the  convention 
between  the  two  countries,  and  following  up  as  it 
also  does  the  subject  of  the  preceding  memorandum, 
and  of  my  note  to  Lord  Castlereagh  of  the  27th  of 
April.  I  give  it  therefore  entire  : 


1319.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  59 

Leg-ation  of  the  United  States. 
London,  May  8,  1819. 

DEAR  SIR, 

Unavoidable  causes  have  prevented  my  an 
swering  at  an  earlier  day  several  of  your  late  com 
munications.  I  now  proceed  to  do  so. 

Respecting  the  demand  still  made  upon  our  ves 
sels  at  Liverpool  of  alien  duties  for  pilotage  and  light 
money,  of  which  American  citizens,  or  those  repre 
senting  them  in  this  country,  with  so  much  reason 
complain,  I  have  addressed  a  note  to  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  requesting  that  the  practice  may  cease, 

It  is  not  the  first  time  I  have  had  occasion  to  ad 
dress  this  government  officially  to  the  same  purport. 
I  have  also  called  upon  Mr.  Robinson,  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  and  a  member  of  the  Cabinet, 
and  had  a  conversation  with  him  on  the  subject. 
My  application  to  him  distinctly  was,  that  our  citi 
zens  be  freed  altogether  from  any  demand  whatever 
for  these  extra  duties.  It  is  to  this  complete  exemp 
tion  that  they  are  entitled  under  the  Convention. 
If  they  are  made  to  pay  in  the  first  instance,  it  can 
not  be  expected  that  the  amount  can  be  refunded  to 
them  without  trouble,  even  if  expense  could  be 
avoided ;  and  it  is  as  little  just  to  expose  them  to  the 
one  as  the  other.  Mr.  Robinson  promised  an  early 
attention  to  my  application ;  and  I  hope  that  the 
result  may  prove  satisfactory  to  the  just  expectations 


70  RESIDENCE   AT    THE  [1819- 

of  our  citizens,  as  I  shall  feel  at  a  loss,  in  a  contrary 
issue,  what  further  measures  to  take  on  their  behalf, 
•without  new  instructions  from  home.  But  I  cannot 
doubt  the  friendly  disposition  of  this  government, 
and  of  course  its  desire  to  do  all  that  is  just  and 
proper  on  the  occasion.  This  will  be  an  answer  to 
your  letter  of  the  17th  of  April,  which  enclosed  a 
copy  of  the  memorial  from  the  American  chamber 
of  commerce  at  Liverpool  to  the  Lords  of  the 
Treasury. 

I  do  not  feel  so  clear  as  to  the  ground  on  which 
our  ship-owners  stand,  respecting  the  export  duty 
upon  coals,  as  set  forth  in  the  paper  accompanying 
your  letter  of  the  28th  of  April.  The  Convention 
protects  us  against  any  higher  duties  than  could  be 
laid  on  an  exportation  of  the  article  to  any  other 
foreign  country ;  and  places  vessels  of  the  United 
States  in  all  respects  upon  the  same  footing  with 
British  vessels.  But  it  seems  that  twenty-two  shil 
lings  sterling  a  chaldron,  is  not  higher  than  the  sum 
charged  on  an  exportation  to  other  countries ;  and 
that  this  sum  is  to  be  charged  when  the  article  is 
taken  to  the  United  States  in  a  British,  in  the  same 
manner  as  when  taken  in  an  American  ship.  I 
therefore  have  my  doubts  at  present  in  what  parti 
cular  the  Convention  is  violated,  and  will  come  to 
no  final  opinion,  but  wait  farther  explanations. 

As  regards  the  point  stated  in  your  letter  of  the 


1819.1  COURT    OF    LONDON.  7^ 

13th  of  April,  I  do  not  feel  free  to  express  an  opinion 
upon  it.  It  grows  out  of  an  Act  of  Congress  long 
in  operation,  but  differently  viewed,  it  seems,  by 
our  different  consuls  in  these  dominions,  and  the 
construction  of  which  has  now  been  submitted  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  his  decision.  In  this  state  of 
the  question,  I  cannot  interpose. 

On  the  case  presented  by  your  letter  of  the  5th 
of  this  month  I  am  of  opinion,  that  where  the  facts 
establish  a  mutiny,  the  men  are  not  entitled  to  three 
months'  extra  wages  on  being  discharged  by  the 
captain  in  a  foreign  port.  The  act  of  Congress  ne 
ver  could  have  intended  that  American  seamen 
should  be  allowed  to  make  profit  of  their  crimes. 
This  would  be  the  case,  if,  when  the  master  is 
obliged  to  discharge  them  for  criminal  conduct  they 
could  demand  this  bounty.  The  entire  spirit  of  the 
act  imports  that  their  title  to  it  was  to  rest  on  other 
grounds,  and  it  is  of  the  essence  of  every  law  not 
to  be  construed  in  a  manner  to  work  consequences 
pernicious  or  absurd.  The  documents  which  you 
transmitted  to  me  on  this  subject  are  returned. 

I  examined  your  accounts  for  the  quarter  ending 
on  the  31st  of  March,  and  have  given  Mr.  Williams 
a  draft  in  your  favor  upon  the  Messieurs  Barings 
for  £609.  14.  5.,  the  sum  appearing  to  be  due  to 
you. 


72  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [IS  19. 

Your  letter  of  the  first  of  this  month  and  the  de 
spatches  to  me  which  it  announced  from  the  De 
partment  of  State,  came  safely  to  hand. 
With  great  respect 
and  esteem,  I  am 

Dear  Sir,  your  obt.  Serv't. 
RICHARD  RUSH. 
JAMES  MAURY,  Esquire, 
Consul  of  the  United  States, 
Liverpool. 

In  regard  to  accounts  of  the  consul  above  referred 
to,  it  may  be  stated,  that  it  devolved  upon  me  to  ex 
amine  those  of  all  the  consuls  of  the  United  States 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  every  quarter,  and  pay 
them  the  money  due,  which  Congress  provided;  the 
whole  of  which  fund,  as  far  as  concerned  our  con 
suls  in  these  dominions,  was  subject  to  my  drafts  in 
the  hands  of  the  Barings,  Brothers  and  company,  our 
bankers  in  London.  This  was  a  most  inappropri 
ate  duty  with  which  to  charge  the  minister,  and 
from  which,  I  believe,  he  has  of  late  years  been  ab 
solved.  The  chief  expenditures  of  the  consuls  were, 
indeed,  in  advancement  of  a  highly  useful  policy  in 
the  government  of  the  United  States;  viz.,  the  sup 
port  and  relief  of  destitute,  or  distressed,  American, 
seamen  in  any  of  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  or  Ire- 


1819 .]  COURT  OF   LONDON.  73 

land.  Without  consulting  documents  enabling  rne 
to  be  accurate,  I  should  probably  be  within  bounds 
in  saying,  that  the  aggregate  of  my  payments  to  all 
these  consuls  in  the  coarse  of  a  single  year,  some 
times  exceeded  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

May  11.  Dined  with  the  Spanish  Ambassador, 
the  duke  of  San  Carlos.  The  dinner  was  given  to 
the  Marquis  and  Marchioness  Latour  Maubourg. 
All  the  diplomatic  corps;  the  duke  of  Wellington; 
Count  Chickanaro;  Mr.  Hamilton,  one  of  the  under 
secretaries  of  State  for  the  Foreign  Department,  and 
several  others  were  of  the  company.  With  the 
duke  of  San  Carlos,  I  had  an  exchange  of  congratu* 
lations  on  the  prospect  of  seeing  Spain  and  the 
United  States  placed,  by  the  late  treaty  of  Florida, 
upon  friendly  terms,  though  the  treaty  is  yet  unra- 
tified.  His  approach  to  me  for  this  purpose  a  mi 
nute  or  two  after  I  entered  the  room,  as  his  guest, 
was  with  a  grace  noticed  by  some  of  the  diplomatic 
corps;  none  of  whom,  probably,  were  strangers  to 
the  diplomatic  coolness  between  the  two  nations  at 
Washington,  before  the  treaty  was  concluded.  All 
see  in  this  ambassador,  from  the  still  proud  old  court 
of  Madrid,  a  high  specimen  of  the  Spanish  gentle 
man. 

At  dinner,  I  was  next  to  the  Neapolitan  Minister) 
7 


74  RESIDENCE   AT    THE  [1819. 

and  Mr.  Hamilton.  Amongst  other  topicks,  we  had 
that  of  the  Persian  Ambassador's  visit  to  London. 
Mr.  Hamilton  supposed,  that  one  of  the  objects  was, 
to  obtain,  through  the  good  offices  of  England, 
some  modification  of  a  treaty  of  peace  concluded  a 
few  years  ago,  between  Persia  and  Russia,  which 
Sir  Gore  Ouseley,  then  English  Ambassador  in 
Persia,  aided  in  negotiating  under  the  mediation  of 
England.  The  treaty  was  a  good  one  for  English 
and  Russian  interests  at  that  time,  Russia  being  at 
war  with  Persia,  but  on  the  eve  of  her  great  strug 
gle  against  the  French  in  1812,  inasmuch  as  it  libe 
rated  some  seventy  thousand  Russian  troops  from 
Asiatic  objects ;  but  experience  showing  that  some 
parts  of  the  treaty  were  likely  to  bear  hard  upon 
Persia,  a  mitigation  of  the  terms  was  sought  by  her, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  England. 

I  had  conversation  in  the  drawing-room  with  Mr. 
Ramadani,  Charge  d'Affairs  from  Constantinople, 
on  our  admission  to  the  commerce  of  the  Black  Sea. 
I  adverted  to  the  reciprocal  advantages  which  might 
be  expected  to  flow  from  opening  commercial  inter 
course  by  treaty,  between  the  United  States  and 
Turkey.  Britain,  France,  Russia  and  Austria, 
having  the  privilege  of  sending  their  vessels  to  the 
Black  Sea,  I  reminded  him  that  the  United  States 
had  a  larger  foreign  commerce  than  any  one  of  these 


1319  I  COURT   OF    LONDON.  75 

nations — Britain  excepted ;  and  might,  therefore,  as 
I  thought,  for  reasons  operating  both  with  his  coun 
try  and  mine,  naturally  seek  participation  in  the 
trade  of  that  sea.  He  listened  with  apparent  atten 
tion  to  what  I  said,  but  was  backward  in  reply, 
having  no  instructions  from  his  court  on  the  subject. 
In  the  course  of  our  conversation  he  mentioned  that 
Turkey  had  diplomatic  representatives  only  in  Lon 
don,  Paris  and  Vienna.* 

The  Portuguese  Charge  d' Affairs,  Chevalier 
Guerreiro,  manifesting  a  desire  to  know  the  inten 
tions  of  the  United  States  respecting  Buenos  Ay  res, 
I  informed  him  of  the  probable  recognition  of  the 
independence  of  that  new  state  at  an  early  day,  by 
my  government;  a  communication  which,  I  thought, 
he  received  with  satisfaction.  He  then  informed  me, 
that  Count  Palmella,  who  was  in  Paris  on  the 
affair  of  Montevideo,  had  little  hope  of  succeeding 
in  the  object  of  his  visit;  and  that  the  grand  arma 
ment  fitting  out  at  Cadiz  against  Montevideo,  was 
getting  ready  to  sail  with  all  expedition,  or  making 
demonstrations  to  that  effect.  The  Chevalier  ap 
peared  under  no  alarm  at  the  threatened  hosti 
lity  of  Spain,  arid  referred  with  complacency  to 

*  The  treaty  of  Adrianople  brought  about  by  the  arms  of  Russia  in 
1829,  in  her  war  against  Turkey,  had  the  effect  of  throwing  open  the 
commerce  of  the  Black  Sea  to  other  nations. 


76  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

the  treaty  between  Portugal  and  England,  in  which 
the  latter  guaranties  the  European  possessions  of 
Portugal. 

I  had  also  conversation  with  Count  Chickanaro, 
President  of  the  Academy  of  Arts  at  Vienna,  and 
author  of  the  work  on  ancient  and  modern  sculp 
ture;  who  spoke  in  high  commendation  of  the 
talents  and  acquirements  of  Mr,  Ticknor,  of  Boston, 
whom  he  had  met  in  Italy. 

May  12.  Yesterday  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne 
made  his  promised  motion  in  the  House  of  Lords  for 
ministers  to  produce  the  correspondence  between 
the  two  governments  in  the  cases  of  Arbuthnot  and 
Ambrister.  After  debate,  it  was  negatived  without 
a  division.  His  lordship  spoke  with  his  usual  ability 
and  dignity,  but  not  without  misapprehension  as  to 
some  parts  of  our  system  of  government  and  law ; 
particularly  our  Act  of  Congress  relative  to  private 
citizens  who  carry  on  correspondence  with  foreign 
governments;  and  also  as  to  our  articles  of  war 
relating  to  courts  martial. 

The  United  States  were  sufficiently  put  in  the 
right  on  the  broad  merits  of  the  transaction  by  the 
ministers  of  the  crown,  Lord  Liverpool  and  Lord 
Bathurst,  who  spoke  in  reply  to  Lord  Lansdowne. 
It  is  satisfactory  to  remark  that  the  grounds  upon 


1819.]  COURT    OF    LONDON.  77 

which  they  justified  England  in  abstaining  from 
interference,  are  the  same  in  effect  with  those  which, 
in  fulfilment  of  my  instructions,  I  had  laid  before 
the  British  Cabinet,  as  seen  in  the  22d  chapter  of 
the  former  volume  of  this  work.  I  need  say  no  more 
on  a  subject  which,  under  some  of  its  aspects,  was 
painful;  a  subject  which  called  for  wisdom  and 
firmness  in  the  King's  ministers  to  get  the  better  of 
a  wide-spread  clamor  in  England,  when  news  of  the 
execution  of  those  two  men  first  arrived ;  and  which, 
gathering  aggravation  from  the  power  and  passion 
of  the  British  press,  which  knew  not  the  merits  of 
the  transaction,  threatened,  for  a  short  time,  to  inter 
rupt  the  peace  of  the  two  countries.  Happily,  it 
went  off  without  any  such  consequences.  They 
would,  indeed,  have  been  far  too  momentous  for  the 
occasion ;  yet  how  often  have  nations  been  thrown 
into  collision  through  slighter  causes?  History  is 
full  of  such  examples.  The  progress  of  the  trans 
action  cost  me  much  solicitude,  and  I  hailed,  with 
unmingled  satisfaction,  its  favorable  issue. 

May  14.  I  have  a  request  from  Mr,  Hamilton,  to 
refer  him  to  all  our  Acts  of  Congress  for  maintain 
ing  more  effectually  our  neutral  relations;  but 
chiefly  the  act  known  to  have  been  intended  for 
Spain  and  her  colonies,  though  general  in  its  terms, 


78  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

I  accordingly  send  it  to  him,  being  the  Act  of  the 
20th  of  April,  1818  ;  and  give  him  references  to  our 
earlier  acts,  particularly  the  Act  of  June,  1794, 
passed  when  the  wars  of  the  French  Revolution 
were  raging,  and  complaints  were  made  by  one  or 
other  of  the  belligerents,  that  privateers  were  fitted 
out  in  our  ports,  and  other  armaments  prepared 
within  our  jurisdiction.  The  motive  for  Mr.  Hamil 
ton's  request  may  be  seen  in  yesterday's  proceedings 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  It  appears  that  the 
Attorney  General  has  asked  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill, 
called  the  Foreign  Enlistment  Bill,  the  object  of 
which  is  to  prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  in  future,  the 
departure  from  British  ports  of  any  men,  or  military 
supplies,  for  the  Spanish  colonies.  England  is  thus 
going  at  last  to  try  the  effect  of  special  legislation 
on  this  subject,  with  a  declaration  from  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  made  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  his 
Majesty's  Ministers  owed  an  apology  to  the  House 
and  country,  for  not  adopting  the  measure  sooner. 
I  was  not  prepared  to  see  him  go  to  this  extent  in 
his  declaration ;  nor  for  the  measure  itself,  which 
must  have  been  the  effect  of  a  recent  determination. 
The  policy  of  it  may,  perhaps,  be  called  generous, 
considering  the  weakness  of  Spain,  and  how  fast 
she  is  tottering  to  a  fall  from  her  colonial  power. 
This,  none  can  see  more  clearly,  than  the  English 


1819  1  COURT    OF    LONDON.  79 

Ministers.  The  measure  may  have  been  urged  on 
by  the  course  of  the  United  States,  in  determining 
to  recognise  Buenos  Ayres.  Whether  a  special  Act 
of  Parliament  can  stop  supplies,  and  thence  also  the 
complaints  from  the  Duke  of  San  Carlos  to  which 
Lord  Melville  alluded,  at  the  Portuguese  ambassa 
dor's  in  February,  time  will  show. 

It  is  among  the  permanent  instructions  to  me 
from  my  government  to  keep  all  our  ministers,  at 
whatever  places  we  may  have  them,  in  Europe  or 
America,  informed  of  any  events  coming  under  my 
knowledge  in  London,  which  may  bear  upon  any 
part  of  our  foreign  relations,  or  otherwise  be  inte 
resting  to  the  United  States.  Thus  broadly  did 
Mr.  Adams  view  diplomatic  duty  under  this,  as  all 
aspects ;  and  it  may  be  in  place  here  to  say,  that  I 
made  known  to  Mr.  Erving,  our  minister  at  Ma 
drid,  my  communication  to  Lord  Castlereagh  in  Fe 
bruary,  of  the  intention  of  the  United  States  to  re 
cognise  the  Independence  of  Buenos  Ayres.  I  was 
also  informed  by  Mr.  Erving,  that  the  knowledge 
of  it  had  been  transmitted  to  the  English  Embassy 
at  Madrid,  by  a  courier  extraordinary  from  London. 
This  will  manifest  the  interest  which  the  English 
Court  took  in  that  communication,  as  well  as  the  re 
lations  of  amity  which  bound  England  to  Spain; 
and  thence,  also,  may  render  it  the  less  difficult 
to  imagine  a  motive  for  the  Foreign  Enlistment 


§0  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

bill,   which    the   ministers   at  last  determined   to 
pass. 

May  18.  Went  to  a  party  last  night  at  the  Coun 
tess  of  Jersey's,  Berkley  Square,  The  rooms  pre 
sented  a  large  array  of  Whig  nobility;  amongst 
them,  some  of  the  most  enlightened  men  of  Eng 
land.  I  went  afterwards  to  Countess  Grosvenor's, 
where  a  party  still  larger  was  assembled.  Four  rooms 
were  open,  the  walls  of  each  covered  with  paintings, 
Grosvenor  House  being  celebrated  for  its  large  col 
lection.  I  could  do  no  more  than  glance  at  them 
last  night,  seeing  them  better  on  subsequent  occa 
sions.  In  the  principal  room,  a  large  one  and  very 
lofty,  and  which  from  abundant  light  had  a  sun-like 
brightness,  were  four  large  paintings  by  Reubens — 
scripture  pieces,  besides  other  productions  of  the 
masters.  These  four,  I  was  informed ,  had  been  recent 
ly  purchased  by  Lord  Grosvenor,  for  five  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  In  another  of  the  rooms,  my 
attention  was  called  by  one  of  the  guests,  to  a 
landscape  by  Paul  Potter,  small  in  size,  for  which 
it  was  said  a  thousand  guineas  were  given. — 
There  were  historical  pieces,  fancy  pieces,  fami 
ly  pieces,  landscapes,  portraits,  making  the  walls 
on  all  sides  glow  with  this  rich  and  beautiful  col 
lection  of  works  of  art.  On  the  sideboard  and  ta 
bles  where  refreshments  stood,  massive  plate  arrested 


1819.1          *  COURT  OF  LONDON.  Ql 

the  eye ;  whilst  from  another  of  the  rooms  which 
looked  into  the  gardens,  you  saw  lamps  through 
foliage  and  flowers,  and  heard  music  from  bands. 
It  was  near  two  o'clock  when  we  got  home  from 
this  attractive  entertainment. 


82  RESIDENCE   AT  THE"  [1819- 


CHAPTER  VI. 


AUTOGRAPH  LETTER  FROM  THE  PRESIDENT  TO  THE 
PRINCE  REGENT.— EMIGRANTS  FROM  ENGLAND  TO  THE 
UNITED  STATES.— DINNER  AT  MR.  WILLIAM  VAUGHAN'S. 
—DINNER  AT  MR.  INGLIS'S.— MR.  WILBERFORCE.— DR.  JOHN- 
SON.— DINNER  AT  THE  SPANISH  AMBASSADOR'S.— LEVEE 
AT  CARLTON  HOUSE.— SPECIAL  AUDIENCE  OF  THE  PRINCE 
REGENT.— CONVERSATION  ON  AMERICAN  INTERESTS  AT 
THE  LEVEE. 

May  19.  Having  received  from  the  Secretary  of 
State  an  autograph  letter  addressed  by  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  Prince  Regent,  in  answer  to  one  ad 
dressed  by  the  Prince  to  the  President,  announcing 
the  death  of  the  Queen,  I  wrote  the  following  note 
to  Lord  Castlereagh. 

London,  May  19,  1819, 
51,  Baker  Street. 

MY  LORD, 

I  have  received  from  the  Secretary  of 
State,  a  letter  addressed  by  the  President  of  the 


COURT   OF   LONDON.  §3 

United  States  to  His  Royal  Highness,  the  Prince 
Regent,  in  answer  to  one  from  His  Royal  Highness 
to  the  President,  dated  the  sixteenth  of  November 
last. 

Having  the  President's  directions  to  deliver  this 
letter,  a  copy  of  which  is  enclosed,  I  have  to  request 
that  your  lordship  will  be  so  good  as  to  ask  on  my 
behalf  the  honor  of  a  special  audience  of  his  Royal 
Highness,  or  inform  me  in  what  other  manner  it 
may  be  the  pleasure  of  His  Royal  Highness  that  it 
should  be  presented. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with 

distinguished  consideration, 
your  Lordship's 

obedient  Servant, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
The  Right  Honorable 

Lord  Viscount  Ca^tlereagh, 
His  Majesty's  principal 
Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs. 


May  21.  Receive  the  following  in  reply  : 
The  undersigned,  His  Majesty's  Principal  Secre 
tary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  has  the  honor  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Rush's  letter  of  the 
19th  instant,  enclosing  the  copy  of  a  letter  of  con- 


84  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  T1819. 

dolence  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  his 
Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent,  on  the  death  of 
Her  late  Majesty  the  Queen;  and  requesting  an  au 
dience  of  his  Royal  Highness  for  the  purpose  of  de 
livering  the  original. 

The  undersigned  hastens  to  acquaint  Mr.  Rush, 
that  the  Prince  Regent  will  grant  him  an  audience 
for  that  purpose  on  the  next  Levee  day;  and  re 
quests  he  will  accept  the  assurances  of  his  high  con 
sideration. 

CASTLEREAGH. 

Foreign  Office, 
May,  1819. 

May  21.  Few  subjects  continue  to  press  more  fre 
quently,  and  I  add  needlessly,  upon  my  time  in  this 
capital,  sometimes  by  personal  applications,  but 
ofterier  by  letters,  than  that  of  emigration  to  the 
United  States.  I  am  heavily  tasked  for  information 
on  this  subject;  sometimes  even  called  upon  to  give 
advice  !  The  subjoined  answer,  sent  to-day,  to  one 
of  these  applications,  is  given,  as  illustrative  of  the 
mode  in  which  I  deal  with  all. 


Legation  of  the  United  States, 
London,  May  21,  1819. 

SIR, 

I  received  your  letter  of  yesterday's  date,  and  have 
to  say,  that  I  have  no  authority  to  treat  with  you 


COURT    OF    LONDON.  35 

upon  the  subject  to  which  it  relates.  The  United 
States  have  never  heretofore,  by  any  direct  or  in 
direct  interference  on  the  part  of  their  government, 
invited  emigrants  from  other  countries  to  their 
shores.  Their  laws,  it  is  true,  are  in  a  high  degree 
liberal  towards  the  foreigner,  giving  him  full  pro 
tection  on  his  arrival,  and  clothing  him  afterwards 
with  the  rights  of  a  citizen  upon  easy  terms.  But 
they  leave  him  wholly  to  his  own  impulse  whether 
to  go  or  not,  abstaining  from 'all  engagements  or  pro 
mises  with  him  beforehand,  beyond  those  which 
their  permanent  laws  imply.  I  am  not  at  present 
aware  of  any  considerations  connected  with  the  late 
acquisition  of  the  Floridas,  to  authorize  an  expec 
tation  that  there  will  be  any  departure  by  the  United 
States  from  this,  their  habitual,  course  of  policy; 
and,  therefore,  I  do  not  think  it  necessary,  even  if  I 
felt  at  liberty,  to  transmit  your  proposals  to  my 
government.  The  climate  and  soil  of  those  pro 
vinces,  may  indeed  favour  the  cultivation  of  the  ar 
ticles  you  have  mentioned;  but  this  has  already  been 
more  or  less  the  case  with  other  parts  of  the  territo 
rial  dominion  of  the  United  States. 

In  affording  you  this  early  and  unreserved  answer, 
I  have  the  honor  to  remain 

Your  obedient  servant, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
To  MR.  MELTON. 

8 


8(5  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

May  25.  Yesterday  we  dined  with  Mr.  William 
Vaughan,  residing  at  Clapham,  a  merchant  of  great 
worth,  long  and  well  known  for  his  kindness  and 
hospitalities  to  Americans.  To  me  and  my  fami 
ly,  they  were  extended  with  great  cordiality  and 
warmth. 

The  party  consisted  of  a  few  of  his  neighbors, 
all  my  family,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  *  *  *,  a  well  in 
formed  couple,  who  gave  to  conversation  a  sprightly 
and,  in  part,  literary  turn.    They  had  recently  been 
to  Brighton,  the  sea-shore  residence  of  the  Prince 
Regent,  and  visited  the  Pavilion,  a  sort  of  marine 
palace  built  by  the  Regent;  of  the  classic  architec 
ture  of  which  fame,  it  is  true,  does  not  give  the  best 
account,  being  fashioned  after  Chinese  models,  or 
that  of  the  Kremlin  at  Moscow;  or  partaking  of  both. 
With  the  mention  of  this  building,  the  Prince  Re 
gent  himself  became  a  topick,  and  was  spoken  of 
without  any  great  reserve;   the  disposition  to  do 
which,  is  not  uncommon   when   his  name  comes 
upon   the   tapis,  out   of  government    circles,  and 
those  favorable  to  the  ministry.     There  is  no  rule 
to  which  I  hold  myself  more  strictly,  than  that  of 
not  intermingling  with  party  politics  in  this  king 
dom.     Silence  is  my  resource  on  any  signs  of  that 
kind  of  conversation  breaking  out;  more  especially 
when  members  of  the  government  or  court  to  which 
I  am  accredited,  are  aimed  at.     Our  benignant  host 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  37 

seconded  my  reserve  on  this  occasion,  and  the  topick 
was  not  much  extended,  but  gave  way  to  others  in 
which  all  were  able  to  share. 

In  the  dining-room  of  Mr.  Vaughan  stood  a  piece 
of  furniture  in  which,  as  a  Briton,  he  naturally  took 
pride ;  and  which  every  body  might  look  at  with 
curiosity.  It  was  a  side-board  formerly  belonging 
to  Lord  Nelson,  which  he  informed  us  he  had 
purchased  at  a  sale  after  his  death. 

May  28.  Visit  the  Duke  of  Kent  at  Kensington 
Palace,  and  afterwards  go  to  dinner  at  Mr.  Inglis's,* 
Battersea  Rise,  West  End  of  Clapham  Common. 
Lord  and  Lady  Compton,  Mr,  Wilberforce,  Sir 
Thomas  Ackland,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morier,  Mr.  Strat 
ford  Canning  and  others  were  of  the  company.  The 
name  of  Ackland  brings  historical  recollections  to 
an  American  that  border  on  romance,  recalling  the 
sufferings  and  dangers  of  that  devoted  wife  and  he 
roine,  Lady  Harriet  Ackland,  told  in  so  touching 
a  way  by  General  Burgoyne,  in  his  narrative  of  the 
surrender  and  misfortunes  of  his  army  at  Saratoga. 
The  gentleman  of  our  party,  was  the  present  head 
of  the  ancient  family  in  Devonshire  to  which  the 
husband  of  Lady  Harriet  Ackland  belonged. 

*  Since  Sir  Robert  Harry  Inglis,  Bart, 


RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

Mr.  Wilberforce  had  much  of  the  conversation, 
all  appearing  to  desire  that  he  should  lead  it.  Sir 
Thomas  Ackland,  Lord  Compton,  and  Mr.  Inglis, 
were  well  able  to  sustain  and  draw  him  out.  He 
told  anecdotes  of  Mr.  Windham;  said  that  he  had 
left  behind  him  numerous  manuscript  books  made 
up  of  loose  memoranda,  political  and  literary,  va 
rious  journals  begun  ahd  discontinued,  with  other 
occasional  notes  and  reflections  growing  out  of  his 
active  parliamentary  life;  the  whole  showing  great 
labour — but  never  the  steady  pursuit  of  it;  "  that 
deficiency,"  he  added,  in  his  musical  intonations  of 
voice,  "  which  stops  short  so  many  men  capable  of 
the  greatest  achievements."  Speaking  of  the  ad 
ministration  of  justice,  he  said,  that  he  looked  upon 
the  custom  of  men  of  independent  estates  in  the 
country  becoming  justices  of  the  peace,  and  doing 
all  the  duties  of  the  office  without  fee  or  reward,  as 
that  part  of  their  system  in  England  from  which 
consequences  the  most  beneficial  were  constantly, 
though  silently,  flowing.  "  Mischief  always  made 
a  noise,"  he  said;  and  sometimes  a  case  of  oppres 
sion  was  charged  upon  some  one  or  other  among 
the  magistrates  of  this  description,  which  may  in 
fact  have  happened ;  but  he  believed  the  good  which, 
as  a  body,  they  did  throughout  the  whole  country, 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  39 

incalculably  predominated  over  any  occasional  mis 
chief.* 

The  evening  was  rich  in  topicks  in  which  all  took 
part,  as  the  wine  went  round,  or  rather  as  it  seemed 
forgotten.  Johnson's  life  and  character  were 
among  them  ;  and  I  might  have  been  surprised  to 
learn  that  Mr.  Wilberforce  knew  nothing  of  Johnson 
personally,  although  they  were  contemporary,  if  I 
had,  not  remarked  since  being  in  England,  how 
separate,  as  a  class,  their  public  and  parliamentary 
men,  however  literary,  as  well  as  private  persons 
who  are  literary,  are  from  the  class  of  authors.  The 
cause  becomes  obvious  when  you  get  a  close  view 
of  the  multiplied  subdivisions  of  society  in  London. 
English  statesmen  and  orators,  and  men  of  literary 
attainments  in  that  large  class  where  permanent 
fortunes  are  possessed,  pursue  literature  as  an  ac 
complishment.  To  some  of  the  former,  it  is  the 
necessary  auxiliary  of  public  life;  strength  alone,  in 
the  vast  competition  of  strong  minds,  not  being  suf 
ficient  without  something  in  addition.  To  the  mere 
men  of  fortune,  literature  becomes,  very  largely,  the 
necessary  ornament  of  private  life,  so  many  persons 
having  permanent  wealth  that  it  ceases  to  be  a  title 

*  The  same  kind  of  magistracy  prevails  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  where 
respectable  and  independent  citizens  discharge  the  duties  of  justices  of  the 
peace  without  pay  or  reward. 


90  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

to  any  desirable  distinction  in  the  higher  classes, 
unless  in  alliance  with  accomplishments.  But 
the  professional  author  pursues  literature  as  a  pro 
fession,  and  is  in  a  class  of  his  own.  A  more  marked 
illustration  of  the  separation  of  the  two  classes  could 
not  easily  be  selected,  perhaps,  than  that  such  a  man 
as  Mr.  Wilberforce  should  never  have  met  Dr. 
Johnson,  both  being  social  in  their  habits ;  Johnson, 
it  is  true,  being  in  advanced  life,  (though  he  was 
still  in  full  fame,  writing  his  Lives  of  the  Poets,) 
and  Wilberforce  in  early  life;  at  which  epoch  to 
each  it  was,  that  they  were  contemporary.  Their 
political  creed  was  also  much  the  same. 

There  is  doubtless  more  of  approximation  now, 
between  these  two  classes  in  England,  than  in 
Johnson's  time,  and  prior  to  his  time.  Their  still 
nearer  approach  might  improve  authors  in  their 
intercourse  with  the  world,  and  strengthen  litera 
ture  and  science  in  the  circles  of  influence  and 
power  •  each  class  lending  aid  to  the  other,  as  in  all 
intercourse  among  the  enlightened. 

May  29.  Went  to  see  the  cork  models  in  Lower 
Grosvenor  Street.  There  was  a  representation  of 
the  amphitheatre  at  Verona,  and  that  of  Rome ;  of 
Virgil's  tomb ;  of  the  cascade  near  Tivoli ;  of  the 
grotto  of  Egeria ;  of  Vesuvius  in  a  state  of  eruption, 
and  various  other  things  of  antiquity.  I  rank  it 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  91 

among  the  curious  exhibitions  I  have  happened  to 
see  in  London.  The  Neapolitan  minister  had 
drawn  my  attention  to  it  by  remarking  that  repre 
sentations  of  the  ancient  buildings  of  Italy,  were 
thought  to  be  better  in  cork  than  perhaps  any  other 
material, — particularly  of  the  color  of  some  of  them ; 
a  sort  of  duskiness,  or  brown  this  side  of  it. 

May  30.  Dine  at  the  Spanish  Ambassador's.  It 
was  a  sumptuous  entertainment  given  in  honor  of 
his  Sovereign's  birth-day.  The  entire  diplomatic 
corps  were  present;  also  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Wellington  ;  Sir  Benjamin  Bloomfield,  chief  Secre 
tary  of  the  Prince  Regent  ;*  some  Spaniards  of  note 
— military  officers  chiefly;  the  ladies  of  all  the  am 
bassadors  and  ministers,  and  other  prominent  per 
sons. 

I  had  Prince  Esterhazy  on  one  side  of  me,  and 
on  the  other  Sir  Benjamin  Bloomfield.  The  former 
reiterated  the  wishes  he  had  expressed  to  me  on 
former  occasions,  for  the  opening  of  diplomatic 
intercourse  between  Austria  and  the  United  States. 
He  spoke  of  the  pending  discussions  in  Paris  be 
tween  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  thought  that  they 
would  come  to  nothing,  Spain  relying  too  much  on 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Bloomfield,  British  Minister  at  Stockholm. 


92  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

her  own  own  exertions  without  the  ability  to  make 
them  effective.  He  told  me  that  Lord  Castlereagh 
had  made  him  acquainted  with  my  communication 
to  him  of  the  intention  of  the  United  States  to 
recognise  Buenos  Ayres,  and  seemed  desirous  to 
know  whether  I  supposed  our  acquisition  of  the 
Floridas,  would  change  that  intention.  I  said  I 
had  no  belief  that  it  would ;  but  added  that  I  had 
an  impression,  that  our  acquisition  of  them,  coupled 
with  our  intention  to  recognise  Buenos  Ayres,  had 
induced  England  to  her  late  determination,  to  pass 
the  Foreign  Enlistment  Bill,  as  something  in  favor 
of  Spain,  nominally  at  least;  remarking  further, 
that  this  was  only  a  conjecture,  as  I  had  heard 
nothing  of  the  sort  from  this  government,  and  had 
no  right  to  inquire.  In  speaking  thus,  I  desired  to 
invite  some  communication  from  him  on  the  subject, 
knowing  his  intimate  relations  with  the  English 
government  and  court;  but  either  he  knew  nothing, 
or  was  not  at  liberty  to  let  me  hear  it.  He  remarked, 
that  he  thought  it  natural  in  the  United  States  to 
contemplate  the  recognition  of  Buenos  Ayres;  and 
said,  that  whatever  differences  of  opinion  might 
exist  as  to  the  principle  of  the  struggle  going  on  in 
Spanish  America,  nothing  seemed  more  certain  to 
all  observers  out  of  Spain,  than  that  it  must  end, 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  93 

sooner  or  later,  in  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from 
the  parent  state. 

In  conversation  with  the  French  Ambassador  in 
the  drawing-rooms,  I  alluded  to  the  good  wishes,  if 
not  good  offices,  of  M.  Hyde  de  Neuville,  French 
Minister  at  Washington,  in  aid  of  our  treaty  for  the 
Floridas ;  upon  which  he  asked  if  the  British  Go 
vernment  had  complained  of  our  acquisition  of  these 
provinces.  I  said,  not  to  me. 

June  3.  Attended  the  Levee,  and  had  my  audi 
ence  of  the  Prince  Regent,  as  promised  by  Lord 
Castlereagh,  for  the  purpose  of  delivering  an  auto 
graph  letter  of  condolence  from  the  President,  on 
the  death  of  the  late  Queen.  The  audience  took 
place  before  the  general  Levee  commenced,  and  in 
the  Regent's  private  apartment,  or  closet.  Lord 
Graves  was  in  waiting  to  introduce  me.  In  the 
room  with  the  Prince,  I  found  Lord  Castlereagh. 
I  delivered  the  original  letter  to  the  Prince,  saying 
that  it  was  in  answer  to  one  which  His  Royal  High 
ness  wrote  to  the  President  on  the  afflicting  occa 
sion  of  the  death  of  her  late  Majesty,  the  Queen ; 
and  that  in  delivering  it  I  had  the  President's  com 
mands  to  say,  that,  taking  an  interest  in  whatever 
affected  the  happiness  of  His  Royal  Highness  and 
that  of  his  illustrious  house,  he  had  received  the  in- 


94  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [~1819 

telligence  with  deep  regret,  and  desired  to  offer  his 
sincere  condolence  to  His  Royal  Highness.  I  added 
words  respectful  towards  the  virtues  and  character  of 
the  Queen,  such  as  appeared  appropriate. 

The  Prince  seemed  to  feel  what  I  said  in  the 
name  of  the  executive  head  of  my  country,  of  the 
Queen,  his  mother.  He  replied,  that  he  was 
much  indebted  to  the  President  for  sentiments  so 
obliging;  it  was  indeed  true,  that  her  Majesty  had 
been  remarkable  throughout  life  for  her  virtues;  that 
none  had  known  her  worth  as  well  as  her  family, 
and  that  they,  therefore,  had.  been  naturally  most 
afflicted  at  the  loss;  and  not  one  of  them  more  than 
himself.  The  interview  here  closed.  On  coming 
out,  I  observed  that  the  Persian  Ambassador  was 
waiting  for  an  audience  after  mine  was  over.  In 
full  oriental  costume  and  glittering  with  gems,  he 
entered  the  Regent's' apartment  as  I  left  it. 

The  Levee  afforded  the  opportunity  of  attending 
to  other  public  duty.  The  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  was  there,  and  I  renewed  with  all  earnest 
ness  my  application  relative  to  the  extra  duties. 
He  gave  me  assurances  that  he  was  devising  a 
mode  by  which  I  might  feel  satisfied,  the  Ame 
rican  ship  owners  would  no  longer  be  called  upon 
to  pay  them ;  he  found  that  an  act  of  parliament 
would  be  necessary,  and  he  added  that  he  would 


1819.1          COURT  OF  LONDON.  95 

make  it  his  particular  care  to  have  it  carried  through 
at  the  present  session. 

I  had  also  a  conversation  with  Lord  Bathurst, 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  colonial  affairs,  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  outrage  upon  the  American  Consul  at 
Tripoli.  He  said,  unhesitatingly,  that  the  shelter 
afforded  to  the  offenders  by  the  British  Consul  in 
manner  alleged,  if  such  had  been  the  fact,  was  as 
far  from  being  under  orders  from  the  British  Go 
vernment,  as  from  any  wishes  which  it  could  pos 
sibly  entertain  on  such  an  occasion ;  he  was  totally 
unacquainted  with  the  transaction,  but  added  that 
he  would  cause  proper  inquiry  to  be  made  into  it, 
and  have  such  steps  taken  as  might  be  necessary. 
After  so  unequivocal  a  disclaimer  from  two  cabinet 
ministers,  one  of  them  the  foreign  secretary,  this 
matter,  under  my  present  instructions,  will  now 
rest. 


96  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  ("1819. 


'  CHAPTER  VII. 


MARRIAGES  OF  THE  DUKES  OP  CAMBRIDGE,  CLARENCE 
AND  KENT.— FORMS  BETWEEN  GOVERNMENTS  ON  SUCH 
OCCASIONS.— DRAWING-ROOM  ON  THE  PRINCE  REGENT'S 
BIRTH-DAY.— COURT  FORMS.— RUMORS  OF  MINISTERIAL 
CHANGES—INTERVIEW  WITH  LORD  CASTLEREAGH  ON 
THE  WEST  INDIA  TRADE.-RUMORS  ABOUT  CUBA.-DIN- 
NER  AT  THE  RUSSIAN  AMBASSADOR'S.— PRINCE  REGENT'S 
DRAWING  ROOM.— DINNER  AT  LORD  CASTLEREAGH'S.— 
THE  RUMOR  ABOUT  CUBA.— LORD  CASTLEREAGH  PAYS 
A  COMPLIMENT  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

ACCORDING  to  form,  I  had  furnished  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  with  a  copy  of  the  autograph  Letter  from  the 
President  to  the  Prince  Regent,  delivered  at  the 
audience  described  in  the  preceding  chapter,  but  did 
not  retain  one  myself.  Having  a  copy  of  one  deli 
vered  formerly,  similar  in  purport,  though  not  in  the 
occasion  calling  it  forth,  for  the  incidents  were  those 
of  gladness,  not  grief,  I  will  here  give  it  insertion. 
It  was  a  letter  from  the  President  to  the  Prince  Re- 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  g- 

gent  in  answer  to  two  letters  addressed  to  him  by 
the  Prince,  announcing  the  marriages  of  the  dukes 
of  Cambridge,  Clarence,  and  Kent.  In  the  insertion 
of  this  document,  which  is  on  the  Archives  of  both 
governments,  there  can  be  nothing  improper.  It  is, 
in  its  nature,  public;  and  time  seems  now  almost  to 
have  invested  it  with  an  historical  character.  It 
may  serve  to  make  known  a  little  more  largely  the 
form  and  spirit  in  which  the  executive  heads  of  na 
tions,  a  Republic  being  one,  address  each  other  di 
rectly,  when  there  is  no  intervention  of  secretaries 
or  ministers.  The  words  which  sovereigns,  and  those 
who  represent  sovereignty,  use  on  these  occasions, 
if  only  words,  are,  on  their  face,  benignant;  and 
such  words,  fitly  spoken,  we  are  told,  are  as  "  ap 
ples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver."  I  gave  in  chap 
ter  eighth  of  the  former  volume,  an  autograph  letter 
which  shows  how  heads  of  nations  address  each 
other,  when  charging  their  representatives  with  the 
transaction  of  grave  matters  of  international  concern. 
The  letter  now  inserted,  may  serve  as  a  sample  of 
the  mode  in  which  courteousness  and  good-will  are 
reciprocated  between  them,  in  the  sphere  of  person 
ality.  Here  is  the  copy  of  the  letter  : 


98  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

To  His  Royal  Highness,  the  Prince  Regent,  acting 
in  the  name  arid  on  behalf  of  His  Majesty,  the 
King  of  The  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland, 

OUR  GREAT  AND  GOOD  FRIEND, 
I  have  received  two  letters  which  your  Royal  High 
ness  was  so  good  as  to  address  to  the  United  States, 
dated  the  first  and  twelfth  of  July  last,  by  which  your 
Royal  Highness  was  pleased  to  communicate  to  us  in 
formation  of  the  nuptials  of  their  Royal  Highnesses, 
your  much  respected  Brothers,  the  Dukes  of  Cam 
bridge,  Clarence,  and  Kent.  The  Duke  of  Cam 
bridge  with  her  serene  Highness,  the  Princess  Au 
gusta  Wilhelmina  Louisa,  of  Hesse  Cassel;  The 
Duke  of  Clarence,  with  her  serene  Highness,  the 
Princess  Adelaide  Louisa-Catherine,  of  Saxe 
Meinengen;  and  the  Duke  of  Kent,  with  her  Se 
rene  Highness,  Victoria  Maria  Louisa,  of  Saxe  Co- 
burg;  all  recently  solemnized  at  the  Queen's  Palace. 
Feeling  a  sincere  and  lively  interest  in  the  happi 
ness  of  Your  Royal  Highness  and  of  your  august  fa 
mily,  I  offer  to  your  Royal  Highness  on  these  joy 
ful  events,  my  cordial  congratulations;  and  I 
earnestly  pray  that  they  may  be  productive  of  the 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  99 

truest  felicity  to  the  parties  themselves,  and  of  per 
manent  benefits  to  the  British  nation. 
I  pray  God,  great  and  good  friend, 

to  have  you  always  in  his  holy  keeping. 

JAMES  MONROE. 

Written  at  Washington,  this  third  day  of  December, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  and  eighteen,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States,  the  forty-third. 
JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

Secretary  of  State. 

From  one  of  these  marriages  has  sprung  a  Queen 
who  now  reigns  over  the  British  Realm.  From 
that  fair  stock  is  likely  to  spring  a  race  of  sove 
reigns  :  And  may  not  all  breathe  hopes  in  unison 
with  this  autograph  letter  of  President  Monroe? 
Besides  the  "  permanent  benefits  to  the  British  na 
tion,"  for  which  that  wise  and  good  man,  and  ster 
ling  patriot,  expressed  his  wish,  while  conveying 
his  congratulations  on  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of 
Kent,  may  not  all  hope,  that  it  may  tend  also  to  the 
benefit  of  the  family  of  nations?  The  wish,  or 
prayer,  as  given  out  by  President  Monroe,  if  but  a 
formulary,  is  also  enlightened;  for  the  prosperity  of 


RESIDENCE   AT    THE  [1819. 

one  great  nation,  is  that  of  others.  England's  pros 
perity  flows  over  upon  us,  as  ours  upon  England ; 
and  thus,  international  courtesy,  when  assuming  this 
form,  embodies  international  wisdom. 

June  4.  Receive  a  note  from  Sir  Robert  Chester, 
the  master  of  ceremonies,  informing  me  that  the 
Prince  Regent's  birth-day  would  be  kept  on  the 
17th  of  this  month,  and  that  a  drawing-room  would 
be  held  on  that  day.  Regular  notices  of  this  kind 
from  the  court,  are  sent  to  the  Foreign  Ambassadors 
and  Ministers,  although  the  ceremonials  of  which 
they  give  information,  are  always  announced  in  the 
newspapers.  I  give  a  copy  of  his  note: 

Sir  Robert  Chester  presents  his  compliments  to 
Mr.  Rush,  and  has  the  honor  to  acquaint  him  that 
the  Prince  Regent's  birth-day  will  be  kept  on 
Thursday  the  17th  instant;  when  his  Royal  High 
ness  will  hold  a  drawing-room  at  Buckingham 
House. 

68  South  Audley  Street, 
June  2,  1819. 

P.S.  Carriage  tickets  for  Constitution  Hill  will 
be  sent  to  the  Foreign  Ambassadors  and  Ministers 
the  day  before  the  drawing-room. 


1Q19  1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  1Q1 

I  acknowledged  the  note  as  follows: 
Mr.  Rush  presents  his  compliments  to  Sir  Robert 
Chester,  and  has  the  honor  to  return  his  thanks  for 
the  information  he  has  been  so  good  as  to  send  him 
of  its  being  intended  to  keep  the  birth-day  of  the 
Prince  Regent  on  the  17th  instant,  and  that  His 
Royal  Highness  will  hold  a  drawing-room  on  that 
day  at  Buckingham  House. 

The  postscript  to  the  note,  has  reference  to  a 
carriage  entrance  into  St.  James's  Park,  through  a 
gate-way  from  which  are  excluded  all  other  car 
riages,  unless  the  owners  have  some  personal  privi 
lege,  or  hold  some  station,  giving  them  the  claim  to 
it.  This  seems  a  small  detail  on  paper;  but  it  may 
serve  to  illustrate  that  remark  in  Burke's  speech  on 
economical  reform  and  retrenchment,  where,  in  the 
midst  of  his  pruning,  he  is  still  for  retaining  those 
stations  intended,  as  he  says,  "  for  the  public  deco 
rum,  and  for  preserving  the  grace  and  majesty  of  a 
great  people."  Since  being  in  England  I  have 
chanced  to  hear  a  gentleman  of  consideration  give 
expression  to  regrets  at  having  resigned  a  situation 
in  the  household  of  the  Queen, — simply  because  it- 
had  lost  his  carriage  the  privilege  of  going  to  Levees 
and  drawing-rooms  by  Constitution  Hill!  I  add. 
that  to  Foreign  Ambassadors  and  Ministers,  the 


102  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

privilege  is  very  convenient,  from  the  multitude  of 
carriages  which,  on  these  occasions,  throng  other 
approaches  to  the  Palace. 

June  7.  ######,  of  the  diplomatic  corps, 
paid  me  a  visit.  He  talked  on  several  subjects.  He 
thinks  there  is  something  in  the  wind  about  a 
change  of  ministry.  He  said  that  the  Duke  of  Bed 
ford,  the  Earl  of  Besborough,  and  the  Earl  of  Dar 
lington,  all  whigs,  dined  with  the  Prince  Regent 
yesterday,  a  circumstance  which  has  not  occurred  for 
a  long  time  before.  It  seems  that  the  Duke  of  Bed 
ford  was  at  Brighton  lately,  where  he  had  gone  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health.  The  Prince  Regent  being 
there,  sent  a  message  to  inquire  how  he  was.  In 
return,  the  Duke  called  at  the  Pavillion,  and  in 
scribed  his  name  in  the  Prince's  book.  No  inter 
course  had  for  some  years  passed  between  the 
parties.  On  coming  to  town,  the  Prince  sent  for 
the  Duke  and  kept  him  in  conversation  a  couple  of 
hours  at  Carlton  House,  saying,  as  he  was  going 
away,  that  he  had  not  for  a  long  time  been  so  happy 
as  in  the  renewal  of  a  friendship  which  he  had 
formerly  prized  so  much.  He  afterwards  gave  him 
a  special  invitation  to  dinner,  joining  with  him  the 
friends  above  named.  My  visiter  exercised  his  in 
genuity  for  a  key  to  all  this,  which,  he  said,  excites 
attention.  He  summed  up  with  saying,  that  if  no 


J819.]  COURT   OF    LONDON.  103 

general  change  be  in  contemplation  just  now,  which, 
however,  he  rather  inclined  to  believe,  the  Prince 
must  design  to  give  some  of  his  ministers  "  the 
fidgets,"  possibly  from  having  been  thwarted  in 
some  of  his  wishes ;  and  as  he  also  assured  me  that 
the  affair  was  a  topick  in  prominent  circles,  and 
believed  in  some  of  them  not  to  be  without  meaning, 
I  make  a  note  of  what  he  said. 

By  as  much  as  I  can  see,  or  learn,  the  present 
ministry  appears  to  be  as  strong  throughout  the 
country,  as  in  Parliament.  To  my  vision,  there  are 
no  signs  of  change;  and  it  is  so  that  I  write  to  my 
government.  The  prudence  and  firmness  of  Lord 
Liverpool  as  Premier,  seem  pledges  for  the  stability 
of  the  ministry ;  not  to  speak  of  the  weight  it  ac 
quired  by  being  the  ministry  in  power  when  Napo 
leon  was  overthrown.  It  was  to  this  effect  that  I 
talked  to  my  visiter.  I  said  also,  that,  to  my  specu 
lative  observation,  a  tory  administration  seemed 
rather  the  most  in  unison  with  a  country,  the  insti 
tutions  of  which  were  essentially  aristocratical  and 
monarchical;  just  as  in  the  United  States,  where 
our  constitutions  began  with  the  words  "we  the 
people,"  where  suffrage  was  nearly  universal,  and 
nearly  every  office  elective,  or  depending  on  the 
issue  of  elections,  democratic  administrations  seemed 
the  most  natural;  and  I  added,  that  tory  administra 
tions  in  England  had  been  found  to  treat  us  best. 


104  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

My  visiter  and  I  discoursed  of  these  things  in  good 
part;  he,  as  a  monarchist,  I,  as  a  republican. 

June  9.  We  were  at  a  rout  at  Mrs.  Henry  Ba 
ring's  last  night,  Berkely  Square. 

An  American  present,  bore  hard  upon  the  United 
States.  What  was  said,  was  little  to  the  advantage 
of  the  head  or  heart  of  the  speaker.  I  will  not  re 
peat  or  comment  upon  it.  It  is  the  first  instance  of 
the  kind  I  have  yet  met  with  from  an  American  in 
England ;  and  let  it  be  hoped  that  they  were  only 
sallies  of  the  moment — words  spoken,  but  not 
meant. 

June  10.  Last  night  we  went  to  Covent  Garden, 
to  see  Mrs.  Siddons  in  Lady  Randolph.  Her  fame 
had  been  familiar  to  me  from  youth;  her  appear 
ance  upon  the  stage  is  still  imposing,  I  may  say, 
superb ;  though  of  late  years  she  has  ceased  to  act 
almost  entirely.  Her  enunciation  was  highly  elo 
quent  and  impressive.  Charles  Kemble  played 
Young  Norval;  Macready,  Glenalvon;  and  Young, 
the  Stranger.  Altogether,  it  was  a  dramatic  treat. 

June  13.  Desiring  to  see  Lord  Castlereagh  on  the 
business  of  the  West  India  Trade,  I  wrote  him  the 
following  note : 


1819,1  COURT    OF    LONDON.  105 

Mr.  Rush  presents  his  compliments  to  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  and  begs  he  will  be  so  good  as  to  appoint 
a  time  when  it  will  be  convenient  to  afford  him  the 
honor  of  an  interview. 

June  9, 1819. 
51  Baker  Street. 

To  which  I  received  the  following  answer  : 
Lord   Castlereagh  presents  his  compliments  to 
Mr.  Rash,  and  will  be  happy  to  receive  him  at  his 
house,  in  St.  James's  Square,  to-morrow  at  twelve 
o'clock. 

Foreign  Office, 
June  12,  1819. 

The  interview  accordingly  took  place  to-day,  the 
thirteenth.  It  was  the  mode  in  which  all  official 
interviews  with  us  were  appointed,  unless,  meeting 
in  society,  we  arranged  them  verbally. 

I  began  by  reminding  him  of  the  point  at  which 
the  discussions  respecting  the  West  India  Trade 
had  left  off  at  the  negotiation  between  our  two  go 
vernments  last  autumn,  and  by  assuring  him  of  the 
President's  earnest  desire  to  see  the  trade  opened 
upon  a  footing  of  entire  and  liberal  reciprocity,  ra 
ther  than  suffer  it  to  stagnate ;  or  to  be  crippled  by 
countervailing  laws  and  regulations.  In  this  spirit 
I  was  instructed  to  offer  a  projet  which  had  been 
carefully  drawn  up  upon  the  basis  of  a  compromise 


J.Q5  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1S19. 

between  the  pretensions  of  the  two  countries,  and 
which  would  be  found  to  fall  in  so  fully  with  the 
propositions  of  Great  Britain  in  some  respects,  and 
make  such  an  approximation  to  them  in  others,  that 
a  hope  was  cherished  by  my  government  of  its 
proving  acceptable. 

In  particular,  it  would  be  found  to  adopt  the  de 
scription  of  naval  stores  and  lumber,  as  articles  to 
be  exported  from  the  United  States,  upon  which 
the  British  plenipotentiaries  had  themselves  insisted 
last  autumn;  confining  the  former  to  pitch,  tar,  and 
turpentine,  and  the  latter  to  staves,  heading  and 
shingles;  contrary  to  the  more  enlarged  signification 
which  it  had  been  the  desire  of  Mr.  Gallatin  and 
myself  to  give  to  the  list.  That  it  acquiesced  also 
in  the  exclusion  of  all  salted  provisions,  including 
the  important  article  of  fish.  That  it  moreover 
came  wholly  into  the  British  views  in  consenting 
to  the  exclusion  of  sugar  and  coffee,  as  articles  to 
be  imported  into  the  United  States  directly  from  the 
British  West  Indies;  it  being  understood  that  the 
above  traffic  was  to  be  open  upon  equal  terms  in  all 
respects,  to  American  and  British  vessels. 

In  return  for  such  an  accommodation  to  the  colo 
nial  views  of  Great  Britain,  the  projet  asl\ed  on  our 
side,  that  the  list  of  articles  to  be  exported  from  the 
United  States  to  the  West  Indies,  should  be  the 


Q  "I  COURT   OF   LONDON.  107 

same  as  to  Bermuda,  and  to  the  British  North 
American  colonies;  that  the  articles  to  be  exported 
to  the  United  States,  should  be  confined  to  such  as 
were  of  the  growth,  produce  or  manufacture  of  the 
above  islands  or  colonies;  and  that  the  same  duties 
and  no  more,  should  be  payable  on  importations 
from  the  United  States  into  the  West  Indies,  whe 
ther  the  articles  were  brought  directly  or  indirectly, 
as  on  similar  articles  imported  into  the  West  Indies 
from  any  foreign  country ;  or  from  any  of  the  Bri 
tish  colonies. 

With  this  outline  of  the  substantial  parts  of  its 
contents,  1  handed  his  lordship  a  copy  of  the  projet. 

The  discussions  between  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
the  two  governments  last  autumn,  having  been  am 
ple  on  the  matters  which  the  projet  embraced, 
I  thought  nothing  was  likely  to  be  gained  by 
leaving  room  for  the  hope  that  any  of  its  essential 
provisions  would  be  departed  from;  and  I  therefore 
deemed  it  best  to  say  with  frankness  in  the  first  in 
stance,  that,  as  it  was  offered,  so  it  was  to  be  taken; 
as  my  present  instructions  would  not  allow  me  to 
deviate  from  it,  unless  on  points  verbal  or  otherwise 
immaterial. 

He  received  it  with  an  assurance  that  a  full  and 
candid  consideration  would  be  given  to  it.  The 
pressure  of  parliamentary  business  might,  he  said, 


108  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

delay  an  attention  to  it  perhaps  for  some  weeks; 
but  it  should  be  taken  up  at  as  early  a  day  as 
practicable.  I  said  that  every  necessary  object 
would  be  attained  on  our  side  if  a  decision  were 
communicated  to  rne  in  time  to  be  made  known  to 
my  government  before  the  meeting  of  Congress, 
which  would  take  place  early  in  December.  I 
added,  that  should  our  propositions  prove  accepta 
ble,  I  was  empowered  to  make  them  supplementary 
to  the  convention  of  the  twentieth  of  October,  which 
Mr.  Gallatin  and  I  had  signed  with  the  plenipoten 
tiaries  of  Great  Britain ;  subject  always  to  the  rati 
fication  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

There  were  no  other  express  matters  of  business 
necessary  to  be  gone  into  at  this  interview;  but  be 
fore  it  ended,  I  adverted  to  other  things.  Amongst 
them,  the  state  of  the  Foreign  Enlistment  bill  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  which  his  lordship  gave 
me  to  understand  left  no  doubt  of  its  becoming  a 
law ;  and  next,  the  rumors  about  Cuba.  On  the 
latter  I  remarked,  that  I  should  be  under  no  anxiety 
if  the  newspapers  had  not  ascribed  to  the  Duke  of 
San  Carlos,  the  declaration  that  it  was  about  to  be 
added  to  His  Britannic  Majesty's  colonial  domi 
nions  in  America — but  I  hoped  the  newspapers 
were  mistaken!  His  lordship  replied,  that  the  Duke 
of  San  Carlos  probably  knew  as  little  of  it  as  he 
did. 


COURT    OF    LONDON. 

The  Foreign  Enlistment  bill  finally  did  pass 
both  Houses  of  Parliament,  but  not  without  strong 
opposition,  on  the  ground  of  trenching  too  much  on 
the  regular  laws  of  England,  and  on  public  law; 
and  as  not  called  for  by  England's  Treaty  with 
Spain,  or  any  of  her  international  duties  or  ob 
ligations. 

June  15.  Dined  at  the  Russian  Ambassador's. 
We  had,  among  others,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dashkoff, 
lately  arrived  from  the  United  States,  where  Mr. 
Dashkoff  was  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  Russia. 
Went  next  to  a  rout,  at  the  Persian  Ambassador's, 
in  Charles  Street,  where  five  hundred  were  present; 
and,  afterwards  to  a  party  at  Lansdowne  House, 
more  agreeable  from  being  smaller. 

June  17.  Attended  the  Prince  Regent's  drawing- 
room.  It  was  extremely  full;  three  thousand  were 
said  to  have  been  there.  It  was  a  birth-day  celebra 
tion,  though  not  the  actual  anniversary  as  mentioned 
formerly. 

I  presented  General  Harper,  of  Maryland,  and 
late  of  the  United  States  Senate,  to  the  Prince  Re 
gent;  also  to  the  Duke  of  Kent,  and  the  Princess 
Augusta;  happy  to  have  done  so  in  the  case  of  this 
distinguished  American. 
10 


HO  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Bedford,  the  Duke  of 
Grafton,  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  and  Earl  Gros- 
venor  were  present ;  which,  to  those  inclined  to 
think  any  change  of  ministry  in  contemplation, 
as********,  ten  days  ago  when  he  paid  me 
a  visit,  might  be  taken  as  omens;  the  two  first 
not  having  been  at  court  for  years,  it  is  said,  and 
the  others  coming  very  seldom. 

At  seven,  I  went  to  the  large  dinner  given  by 
Lord  Castlereagh  to  the  Foreign  Ambassadors  and 
Ministers  in  celebration  of  the  day.  France,  Aus 
tria,  Russia,  Prussia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  the  Ne 
therlands,  Saxony,  Wirtemberg,  Spain,  Portugal, 
Naples,  Sardinia,  and  some  of  the  smaller  courts, 
were  represented  at  the  table,  each  ambassador  and 
minister  being  in  the  diplomatic  dress  of  his  country. 
There  were  also  present,  two  Princes  of  Hesse; 
Count  Woronzoff ;  General^  Woronzoff,  the  latter 
commander  in  chief  of  the  late  Russian  army  of  oc 
cupation  in  France ;  Sir  Gore  Ousely,  late  ambas 
sador  from  England  to  Persia;  Mr.  Bagot,  late 
British  Minister  at  Washington;  Mr.  Lamb,  late 
British  Minister  at  Munich;  Mr.  Frere,  the  same  at 
Madrid;  Mr.  Thornton,  the  same  at  Rio  Janiero; 
Mr.  Onis,  late  Spanish  Minister  at  Washington; 
Lord  Clariwilliam;  Mr.  Planta;  Mr.  Morier,  and 
Mr.  Hamilton.  Altogether,  there  was  an  assemblage 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON,  m 

of  functionaries  from  other  nations,  and  of  British 
Foreign  Ministers  returned  from  service  abroad,  or 
at  home  on  leave,  larger  than  I  had  before  seen  on 
any  similar  occasion  in  England. 

We  went  to  dinner  a  little  before  eight,  according 
to  the  precedence  observed  at  entertainments  of  this 
nature.  At  table,  I  had  on  my  left,  the  Saxon 
Minister,  Baron  Just.  On  my  right,  was  Baron 
Fagel,  ambassador  from  the  Netherlands.  Next  to 
him  sat  Lord  Castlereagh,  who  on  this  occasion 
took  the  middle  of  his  table.  On  his  right,  was 
Count  Lieven,  the  Russian  ambassador,  and  next  to 
him,  Prince  Esterhazy,  the  Austrian.  Amidst  the 
profusion  of  plate  for  such  a  dinner,  some  of  it,  I 
observed,  had  the  Royal  arms,  but  generally  those 
of  Lord  Castlereagh's  family.  The  table  ornaments, 
abundant  light,  and  variegated  national  costumes, 
presented,  as  we  took  our  seats,  an  array  very 
striking,  It  might  have  given  the  idea  of  a  Eu 
ropean  Congress  for  that  evening,  to  which  the 
United  States  had  been  also  invited. 

Baron  Just  inquired  of  me  for  Mr.  Adams,  whom 
he  had  known  well,  and  of  whom  he  spoke  highly, 
He  said  that  he  knew  the  politics  of  all  Europe, 
He  described  his  letter  to  our  minister  at  Madrid  on 
the  cases  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  as  one  of 
great  ability  in  its  defence  of  the  whole  conduct  of 


l\  $  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

the  American  general,  and  policy  of  our  govern 
ment;  and  asked,  whether,  after  the  execution  of 
those  two  British  subjects,  followed  up  by  adding 
the  Floridas  to  our  dominion,  I  did  not  suppose 
England  would  be  likely  to  aim  at  obtaining  Cuba 
from  Spain,  if  she  had  not  already,  of  which  there 
were  strong  rumors?  This  question  was  in  a  tone, 
not  to  carry  it  beyond  my  ear.  Mr.  Onis  sat  on  the 
left  of  Baron  Just;  and  I  said  to  the  latter,  that  I 
would  be  happy  if  he  would  make  that  inquiry  of 
his  neighbor  and  favor  me  with  the  result!  The 
Baron  did — carrying  the  question  off  well.  Mr. 
Onis  said,  just  loud  enough  for  me  to  hear,  "the 
American  Minister  may  feel  easy — Spain  has  not 
ceded  Cuba  to  England — and  does  not  mean  to;" 
an  item  of  information  which,  however  informally 
derived,  it  may  be  imagined  the  American  Minister 
imparted  to  his  government  in  due  time  afterwards. 

And  now  I  will  allude  to  an  incident  which  also 
couples  itself  with  the  "  American  Minister;"  yet 
in  a  light  so  national,  that  he  must  not  drop  it  from 
this  day's  memorandum. 

After  the  principal  courses  were  over,  and  the 
single  toast  had  been  given  by  Lord  Castlereagh, 
viz.,  "  His  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent," 
without  further  word  or  comment,  the  company  all 
rising  in  due  form  as  he  gave  it,  conversation  opened 


1819.1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  H3 

between  his  Lordship  and  Baron  Fagel  on  the  state 
of  tranquillity  which  now  reigned  in  Europe.  It 
was  remarked  by  them,  how  happily  it  contrasted 
with  the  bloody  wars  which  had  so  recently  raged  ; 
and  how  interesting  was  the  spectacle  of  beholding 
ambassadors  and  ministers  from  all  Europe  assem 
bled  in  amity  and  peace  at  that  table,  instead 
of  being  engaged  in  the  work  of  counteracting  each 
other,  as  all  had  so  lately  been  doing,  in  hostile 
camps  and  cabinets.  Sitting  next  to  Baron  Fagel, 
the  opportunity  was  afforded  me  of  sharing  a  little 
in  this  conversation.  At  its  point  of  chief  interest, 
Lord  Castlereagh,  bending  forward  so  as  to  give  me 
his  voice,  said,  "  Yes,  and  may  the  happy  tran 
quillity  we  are  speaking  of,  long  continue  ;  Europe 
requires  repose;  each  state  has  had  enough  of 
war,  and  enough  of  glory,  and  ought  to  be  content/' 
Here  he  paused  an  instant;  but,  resuming,  he  pro 
ceeded,  "and  you,  too,  You  of  America,  Mr.  Rush, 
ought  also  to  be  satisfied ;  You  left  off  very  well, 
and  ought  to  wish  for  nothing  but  a  continuance  of 
peace.7' 

I  felt  this  delicately  conveyed  compliment  to  my 
country.  He  knew  that  our  war  with  Britain  had 
terminated  in  victory  on  our  side,  by  sea  and  land. 
I  could  not  fail  to  perceive,  that  the  compliment 
passed,  in  under  tones,  along  the  table,  the  side  at 

10* 


,  14  RESIDENCE   AT    THE  [1819. 

least  on  which' I  was:  though  it  was  heard  at  first, 
only  by  the  few  near  Lord  Castlereagh.  Accepta 
ble  to  me,  it  bespoke  conscious  patriotism  in  him. 
He  felt  that  Britain's  ample  renown  in  arms  could 
spare  the  compliment  to  the  free  and  martial  race 
she  founded  in  America;  therefore,  with  the  manly 
grace  belonging  to  him,  he  uttered  it;  the  represen 
tatives  of  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  sitting  by 
as  his  guests.  It  was  high  official  courtesy,  and 
I  record  it  with  as  much  pleasure  as  I  expe 
rienced  it. 

Rising  from  the  table,  the  company  returned  to 
the  drawing-rooms,  where  coffee  was  handed,  and 
conversation  continued  in  the  harmonious  feeling 
of  the  day.  In  an  hour  all  adjourned  to  Prince  Es- 
terhazy's,  with  a  ball  at  whose  house  the  festivities 
of  this  birth-day  celebration  wound  up.  The  Prince 
Hegent  was  at  it,  the  ladies  of  all  the  ambassadors 
and  ministers,  with  a  large  assemblage  in  addi- 
.tion. 


1819.] 


COURT   OF   LONDON,  H5 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PARTY  AT  CARLTON  HOUSE.— CONVERSATION  ABOUT  CUBA. 
—DINNER  AT  MR.  GEORGE  PHILLIPS'S.— DINNER  AT  MR. 
TRAIL'S.— THE  BOX  PRESENTED  BY  THE  EARL  OF 
BUCHAN  TO  GENERAL  WASHINGTON.— NOTE  FROM  LORD 
CASTLEREAGH  ON  SPECIAL  AUDIENCES  OF  THE  PRINCE 
REGENT.— DINNER  AT  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON'S.— 
LETTER  TO  MR.  GALLATIN.  —  CUBA.  —  THE  FLORIDA 
TREATY.— THE  WEST  INDIA  TRADE.— PARTY  AT  GROS- 
VENOR  HOUSE.— ARRIVAL  OF  THE  AMERICAN  STEAM- 
SHIP  SAVANNAH,  AT  LIVERPOOL. 

June  19.  Went  to  Carlton  House  last  night.  The 
lower  rooms  were  full;  foreign  ambassadors  and 
ministers,  members  of  the  cabinet,  members  of  par 
liament,  and  numerous  official  and  titled  persons, 
forming  the  company.  Conversed  half  an  hour  with 
Lord  Liverpool  and  Lord  Harrowby  on  Gibbon's 
style,  and  on  Bonaparte's  character.  Gibbon'sremark 
that  Tacitus  was  the  first  historian  who  had  applied 
the  science  of  philosophy  to  the  study  of  facts,  and 
that  his  work  contained  more  ideas  than  words, 


RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

being  mentioned,  it  was  agreed  that  his  own  style 
did  not  illustrate  the  latter  part  of  it,  although  the 
classic  and  "uniform  stateliness  with  which  Gibbon 
sustained  his  style,  had  often  the  quality  of  conden 
sation  too.  To  another  of  his  remarks,  that  the 
Greek  language  was  one  capable  of  giving  soul  to  the 
objects  of  sense  and  body  to  the  abstractions  of  phi 
losophy,  Lord  Harrowby,  who  has  the  reputation  of 
being  a  fine  Greek  scholar,  responded  very  cordi 
ally.  When  Bonaparte  was  spoken  of,  it  was  plain 
that  neither  of  them  admired  his  character.  They 
spoke  as  British  statesmen  who  had  been  long 
opposed  to  him;  nor  did  I  think  they  said  too 
much  of  his  inordinate  ambition.  Taking  all  his 
career  into  view,  they  agreed,  that  wanton  cruelty 
could  not  be  made  out  against  him. 

Finding  myself  thus  in  accidental  conversation 
with  two  members  of  the  cabinet,  the  Premier,  arid 
the  President  of  the  council,  I  improved  the  oppor 
tunity  of  alluding  to  Cuba.  I  said  to  Lord  Liver 
pool,  I  was  glad  to  infer  from  some  transient 
words  falling  from  Lord  Castlereagh,  that  the  news 
paper  rumors  of  that  island  being  about  to  change 
owners  were  not  to  be  regarded.  He  replied,  that 
newspaper  rumors  here,  as  with  us,  probably,  were 
often  very  idle  ;  and  that  if  government  undertook 
to  notice  them  all,  it  would  have  its  hands  full.  Al- 


COURT  OF  LONDON. 

though  he  was  no  more  explicit  than  this,  I  make 
the  same  inference  from  his  words,  as  from  Lord 
Castlereagh's;  and  am  therefore  still  disposed,  in 
the  language  of  Mr.  Onis,  to  "  feel  easy."  I  catch  a 
general  sentiment  in  the  diplomatic  corps,  that  none 
of  the  great  powers  would  desire  to  see  Cuba  ceded 
to  England,  considering  the  vastness  of  her  colonial 
dominion  already ;  and  I  cannot  think  that  her  mi 
nisters  would  wish  to  go  against  this  general  senti 
ment,  to  say  nothing  of  the  objections  which  the 
United  States  would  naturally  have  to  the  measure. 
This  is  the  tone  in  which  I  have  written  to  my 
government  on  this  subject;  and,  with  my  present 
knowledge  and  impressions,  I  shall  continue  it. 

June  20.  Dined  at  Mr.  George  Phillips's  yester 
day,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  Mount 
Street.  We  had  Mr.  Brougham,  Mr.  Cavendish, 
Mr.  Chinnery,  Mr.  Erskine,  Mr.  Abercrombie  and 
other  members  of  Parliament ;  and  among  the 
ladies,  Mrs.  Erskine  and  Lady  Cork.  The  eve 
ning  passed  off  well.  Mr.  Brougham  contributed 
largely  to  the  conversation.  He  talked  with  his 
usual  animation  and  promptness.  Nothing  could 
be  alluded  to,  which  he  did  riot  seem  to  know;  or 
any  person  mentioned  of  whom  he  was  ignorant. 
He  told  ^anecdotes  of  public  men,  rapidly  glancing 
at  things  which  seemed  to  spring  up  in  his  memory 


118  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

after  he  began.  As,  for  example,  speaking  of  Lord 
Chancellor  Eldon,  (bags  they  call  him,  said  he, 
great  a  man  as  he  is)  and  then  went  on  with  what 
he  was  saying  before  the  parenthesis.  So  when  he 
happened  to  have  the  Vice  Chancellor  in  hand,  (and 
he,  what  would  they  call  him,  but  reticule;}  and  af 
ter  thus  throwing  him  also  into  a  parenthesis,  pro 
ceeded  with  his  narrative  proper. 

June  21.  Dine  at  Mr.  Trail's,  upper  Brook  street. 
We  had  the  Earl  of  Buchan  (to  whose  letter  to  me. 
Lord  Erskine  alluded  at  the  Duchess'  of  Cumber 
land;)  Mr.  David  Montague  Erskine,  Mrs.  Erskine, 
and  others;  forming  not  a  large  company,  but  of 
good  size  for  conversation. 

With  Lord  Buchan  the  incident  of  the  lost  letter, 
mentioned  in  Chapter  X.  of  the  former  volume,  was 
not  forgotten  among  the  topicks  of  the  evening. 
He  also  spoke  kindly  of  my  father,  saying  be 
sides  other  things  grateful  to  a  son,  that  he  had 
known  him  in  Scotland,  whilst  there  to  receive  his 
education,  and  been  in  correspondence  with  him 
nearly  fifty  years;  and  that  nothing  struck  him 
more  than  the  identity  of  character  kept  up  through 
out  all  his  letters.  He  regretted  the  loss  of  the 
"  Box,"  all  the  circumstances  of  which  I  explained. 

He  spoke  of  General  Washington,  as  others  pre 
sent  did,  paying  tributes  to  his  great  name.  He 


COURT  OF   LONDON.  ]  }g 

said,  that  he  was  related  to  him  through  the  mater 
nal  stock,  Washington's  mother,  like  his  own,  being 
of  the  Fairfaxs'.  The  Washington  family,  from 
which  the  General  sprung,  he  added,  was  related  to 
the  family  of  Earl  Ferrers.  Cordial  things  were 
^said  of  our  country  by  several  of  the  company. 
Mrs.  Erskine  was  born  there;  and  it  was  delightful 
to  find,  doubly  so  to  those  who  remembered  her 
young  and  beautiful,  as  Miss  Cadwalader  of  Phila 
delphia,  that  though  a  good  English- wo  in  an,  which 
her  marriage  made  a  duty,  she  had  a  heart  not  to 
forget  her  native  land. 

This  estimable  woman  died  not  long  since  at  one 
of  the  German  Courts,  as  Lady  Erskine,  her  hus 
band,  Lord  Erskine,  being  at  the  time  British  Minis 
ter  there. 

The  "  Box"  alluded  to,  was  one  made  out  of  the 
Oak  that  sheltered  Wallace  after  the  battle  of  Fal- 
kirk.  It  had  been  presented  to  General  Washing 
ton  by  the  Earl  of  Buchan,  with  a  request  that  the 
General  would  give  it  at  his  decease,  to  the  man  in  his 
country  who  should  appear  to  merit  it  best.  Gene 
ral  Washington  did  not  decide  that  question;  but  in 
his  will,  restored  it  to  the  Earl,  with  expressions  of 
respect  and  thankfulness.  His  lordship,  having  it 
again,  sent,  it  to  my  father,  long  his  American  cor 
respondent.  The  gentleman  charged  to  convey  it 


[20  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1S19. 

to  him  from  Scotland,  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  it, 
while  coming  to  Philadelphia  from  New  York, 
where  he  landed,  I  think  in  1803.  The  stage  was 
robbed  during  the  night,  and  his  trunk,  which  con 
tained  the  box,  carried  off.  Every  effort  was  made 
to  regain  it,  but  in  vain. 

June  23.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dashkoff,  General  and 
Mrs.  Harper,  Miss  Caton,  Mr.  John  Adams  Smith, 
and  others,  dine  with  us.  Conversation  runs  on  the 
United  States  and  England — Mr.  Dashkoff,  appa 
rently  full  of  good  feeling  towards  the  United 
States,  produced  by  his  residence  among  us,  as  mi 
nister  from  Russia;  and  General  Harper  giving  out 
remarks  on  what  has  struck  him  in  England,  show 
ing  his  enlightened  and  discriminating  mind. 

June  24.  Receive  the  following  note  from  Lord 
Castlereagh,  on  a  point  of  ceremony  : 

Lord  Castlereagh  presents  his  compliments  to 
Mr.  Rush,  and  in  consequence  of  the  inconvenience 
which  has  occasionally  arisen  from  the  Master  of  the 
Ceremonies  not  being  apprized  in  time  of  the  wish 
of  the  Foreign  ambassadors  and  ministers  to  obtain 
audiences  of  his  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent, 
begs  to  suggest  to  Mr.  Rush,  as  the  best  mode  of 
preventing  such  inconvenience  in  future,  that  he 


1819.1  COURT    OF    LONDON. 

should,  at  the  same  time  that  he  intimates  his 
request  for  such  an  audience  to  his  Majesty's  Secre 
tary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  have  the  goodness 
to  acquaint  the  Master  of  Ceremonies  that  he  has 
made  that  communication  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Lord  Castlereagh  requests  Mr.  Rush  to  accept 
the  assurances  of  his  high  consideration. 

Foreign  Office, 
June  21,  1819. 

A  similar  note  was  sent  to  all  the  members  of  the 
diplomatic  corps.  I  reply  to  mine  in  the  following 
terms : 

Mr.  Rush  presents  his  compliments  to  Lord 
Castlereagh,  and  has  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  his  note  of  the  21st  of  this  month,  sug 
gesting  that  in  consequence  of  the  inconvenience 
which  has  occasionally  arisen  from  the  Master  of  the 
Ceremonies  not  being  apprized  in  time  of  the  wish 
of  the  Foreign  Ambassadors  and  Ministers  to  obtain 
audiences  of  his  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent, 
it  would  be  desirable  that  they  should,  while  re 
questing  an  audience  through  his  Majesty's  Secre 
tary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  inform  at  the  same 
time  the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  of  such  request, 
as  the  best  mode  of  preventing  for  the  future,  the 
inconvenience  alluded  to.  Mr.  Rush  begs  to  say, 
that  he  will  have  great  pleasure  In  conforming  to 
11 


RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

this  suggestion,  and  has  the  honor  to  tender  to  Lord 
Castlereagh  the  assurances  of  his  distinguished 
consideration. 

London,  June  24,  1819. 
51,  Baker  Street. 

June  25.  Dined  yesterday  at  the  Duke  of  Welling 
ton's.  Besides  the  Duke  and  Duchess,  we  had 
General  and  Mrs.  Harper,  Mr.  Percy,  Mr.  Gerald 
Wellesley — a  brother  of  the  Duke,  and  two  gentle 
men  from  the  Continent.  The  Duke  had  written 
rne  a  courteous  note  to  say,  that  General  and  Mrs. 
Harper  were  to  dine  with  him,  and  asking  my  wife 
and  self  to  meet  them  at  short  notice ;  which  we 
were  the  more  happy  to  do,  as  it  bespoke  a  dinner 
of  less  form.  It  was  at  Apsley  House. 

A  colossal  statue  of  Bonaparte,  presented  to  the 
Duke  by  the  King  of  France,  stands  in  the  hall. 
In  the  library,  there  was  also  a  full  length  painting 
of  him,  said  to  be  an  excellent  likeness ;  and,  among 
other  busts  in  the  same  room,  one  of  Cicero,  which 
the  Duke  spoke  of  as  an  original,  as  far  as  could  be 
ascertained.  It  was  of  marble,  showing  the  marks 
of  time.  The  blemish,  czccr,  was  observable  on  the 
face.  In  the  drawing-room,  was  a  likeness  of  Shak- 
speare,  taken  from  a  picture,  believed  to  be  an  origi 
nal,  found  many  years  ago  in  an  old  ale  house  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Stratford  upon  Avon,  under  the 
paper  on  the  wall. 


1819  1  COURT  OF  LONDON.  123 

It  devolved  upon  me  to  take  the  Duchess  into 
dinner,  and  the  honor  of  sitting  next  to  her  at  table 
was  also  mine.  She  told  anecdotes  of  Madame  de 
Stael,  whom  she  had  known  while  the  Duke  was 
ambassador  at  Paris  after  Bonaparte's  overthrow. 
They  were  very  characteristic  of  that  remarkable 
woman,  whose  pen  handled  Napoleon  in  a  degree 
only  second  to  the  Duke's  sword. 

The  Duke  was  at  the  head  of  his  table.  The 
Duchess  sat  opposite.  The  former  talked  with  the 
ease  which  a  long  intercourse  with  the  world  in  its 
greatest  circles,  gives.  The  quantity  of  food  neces 
sary  for  soldiers,  being  spoken  of,  he  said  that  he 
had  commanded  them  of  many  different  nations,  and 
never  knew  any  that  could  long  subsist,  under  the 
trials  of  a  campaign,  with  less  than  two  pounds  a 
day,  whether  bread  of  some  kind  altogether,  or  a 
mixture  of  bread  with  animal  food;  and  added,  that 
this  applied  to  the  native  troops  of  India,  who  re 
quired  their  two  pounds  of  rice  in  the  twenty-four 
hours.'  Of  the  population  of  India  then  subject  to 
England,  he  remarked,  that  it  had  always  seemed 
to  him  overrated;  he  could  not  pretend  to  accuracy, 
but  he  doubted  if  it  exceeded  twenty  millions. 
This  struck  me  the  more,  having  been  under  the 
prevalent  belief  that  it  was  greatly  beyond  that 
amount.  Perhaps  there  might  be  seen  in  the  re 
mark,  a  characteristic  of  the  Duke's  mind,  not  to 


124  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

be  led  away  by  exaggerations.  More  conversation 
passed,  which  had  the  greater  charm  from  the  com 
pany  being  small  and  without  ceremony,  beyond 
that  which  intrinsically  belonged  to  the  table  of 
such  a  man.  In  the  course  of  it,  a  newspaper  para 
graph  was  alluded  to,  which  mentioned  a  curious 
spectacle  lately  witnessed  at  the  seat  of  the  Marquis 
of  Anglesey.  One  of  the  Marquis's  brothers,  who  was 
a  captain  in  the  navy;  Lord  Uxbridge,  the  Marquis's 
son  :  and  one  of  his  daughters,  being  all  at  his 
country  seat ;  it  was  stated,  that  the  Marquis  had 
but  one  leg,  his  brother  but  one  arm,  that  his  son 
was  on  crutches  from  a  wound  in  the  knee,  and  that 
his  daughter  had  lost  her  right  hand  whilst  attend 
ing  her  husband  at  one  of  the  battles  in  Spain. 
The  Duke  said  it  was  not  true  that  the  lady  had 
lost  her  hand.  The  rest  he  believed  was.  We  had 
a  Spanish  ham  on  the  table.  It  is  a  common  re 
mark  that  each  country  thinks  it  has  the  best  hams; 
but  the  Spanish  seem  preferred  in  England  at  lux 
urious  dinners — they  say  from  being  fed  on  chest 
nuts. 

At  coffee  in  the  drawing-room,  the  social  tone 
seemed  to  become  even  more  easy.  We  were 
shown  by  the  Duchess,  a  set  of  French  breakfast 
China,  belonging  to  Joseph  Bonaparte  while  king 
of  Spain,  which  the  Duke  took  in  one  of  his  cam 
paigns;  and  under  such  hot  pursuit,  that  grounds 


1819.1          COURT  OF  LONDON.  125 

were  still  in  the  coffee-pot,  and  warm.  Anecdotes 
growing  out  of  this  little  incident  were  told,  show 
ing  the  risks  which  royalty  has  to  run  in  war ;  [so, 
also,  in  Pompey's  days,  when  Caesar  took  his  camp, 
he  found  sideboards  loaded  with  plate,  all  ready  for 
a  festival  to  celebrate  the  victory  Pompey  had  ex 
pected  !]  The  interest  of  the  evening  increased 
when  General  Harper  and  the  Duke  got  upon  Bo 
naparte's  campaign  to  Moscow.  My  countryman 
was  fond  of  military  history,  and  no  tyro  in  it.  It 
became  him,  indeed,  to  speak  cautiously  before  the 
Duke,  as  he  did;  but  his  knowledge  was  subservi 
ent  towards  drawing  out  a  little  this  great  com 
mander.  I  was  of  the  knot  where  the  conversation 
was  going  on;  it  touched  things  and  characters  be 
longing  to  the  late  European  wars.  Amongst 
names  brought  up,  was  that  of  the  Archduke 
Charles,  of  Austria.  General  Harper  spoke  favor 
ably  of  him,  though  with  guards  to  leave  room  for 
the  Duke's  opinion.  The  Duke  took  up  the  com 
mendation  of  him,  decidedly.  As  regarded  military 
science,  he  said,  that  he  probably  had  more  than 
any  general  in  Europe ;  there  were  reasons  why  he 
had  not  succeeded  against  Bonaparte  as  fully  as  he 
otherwise  would  have  done;  one  perhaps  was,  from 
overrating  him  ;  but  it  was  chiefly  from  being  sub 
ject  to  fits,  which  were  apt  to  come  upon  him,  after 

11* 


126  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

he  had  been  fighting  a  few  hours.  His  powers  then 
failed  him — great  as  they  otherwise  were.  It  was 
to  this  effect  he  spoke  of  him.  Of  the  virtuous  cha 
racter  and  good  intentions  of  the  Emperor  of  Aus 
tria,  he  spoke  in  the  highest  terms. 

So  passed  the  evening.  I  had  seen  and  con 
versed  with  the  Duke  frequently  before;  but  not 
so  fully,  or  when  reserve  had  so  much  worn 
off.  In  his  whole  conversation  there  wras  a  sim 
plicity  delightful  to  witness,  in  a  man  whose 
name  in  arms  surpasses  Marlborough's  by  the 
amount  and  splendor  of  his  deeds  both  in  Asia  and 
Europe;  whose  knowledge  is  so  extensive  and  va 
rious;  and  to  whose  statesmanship,  the  powers  of 
Europe  have  deferred  as  much  as  to  his  military  re 
nown  ;  of  whom  it  can  be  said  also,  in  a  sphere  of 
praise  still  higher,  that,  tried  by  the  ordinary  stand 
ards  of  great  men,  his  career  has  been  unusually 
pure ;  no  improper  ambition,  no  corruption  of  any 
kind,  no  intrigue,  no  discontent,  no  double  dealing, 
ever  chargeable  upon  him:  on  the  contrary,  every 
thing  honest,  straight-forward,  and  brave,  whilst 
serving  his  country,  no  matter  where  or  how.  Such 
fame  is  rare.  Britain  has  a  right  to  be  proud  of  it, 
and  all  nations  may  respect  it.  Before  coming  away, 
he  invited  my  wife  and  self  to  visit  him  at  his  coun 
try  estate,  Strathfieldsay. 


1819,]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  127 

June  29.  Prince  Esterhazy  visits  me :  says  that 
by  all  his  information,  obtained  here  or  from  Madrid, 
there  is  110  truth  in  the  rumor  of  the  cession  of  Cuba 
to  England;  he  finds  it  discredited  by  those  likely 
to  be  best  informed.  I  agree  with  him  in  his  disbe 
lief,  and  in  talking  the  subject  over,  our  reasons  are 
much  the  same. 

June  30.  The  subjoined  letter  to  Mr.  Gallatin, 
relating  to  international  affairs  heretofore  referred 
to,  is  inserted  in  connexion  with  them. 

London,  June  30,  1819. 
DEAR  SIR, 

You  will  probably  know  more  of  the  state  of  af 
fairs  in  Spain,  as  far  as  they  may  be  likely  to  affect 
us,  than  I  do.  The  rumor  of  Mr.  Onis  being  about 
to  succeed  the  Marquis  Yrujo  in  the  ministry,  was 
afloat  here  on  the  first  arrival  of  the  former  in  this 
capital  from  the  United  States,  and  was  even  re 
peated  by  the  Duke  of  San  Carlos. 

Whether  the  Florida  Treaty  is  to  be  ratified  by 
Spain,  seems  now  the  question;  and  it  is- one  which 
excites  some  interest  here.  I  find  it  surmised  that 
this  government  is  using  its  influence  to  prevent 
the  ratification;  but  I  have  no  evidence  of  it.  Mr. 
Onis,  when  here,  was  very  confident  in  his  asser- 


|28  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

tions  that  it  would  be  ratified.  The  Duke  of  San 
Carlos  continues  to  hold  language  to  the  same 
effect. 

The  Duke  is  also  equally  unequivocal  in  his  de 
clarations  of  disbelief,  that  Cuba  is  to  be  ceded  to 
Great  Britain.  No  credit  is  given  to  this  rumor  in 
any  well  informed  circle  in  London.  Many  reasons 
are  opposed  to  it,  one  of  which,  however,  would  pro 
bably  be  weakened,  should  the  late  change  of  mi 
nistry  in  Spain  have  brought  with  it  any  decline  of 
Russian  influence  at  Madrid. 

It  has  only  been  since  Mr.  Sheldon's  arrival  in 
London  that  I  have  heard  from  our  government  re 
specting  the  unfinished  subjects  of  our  negotiations 
last  autumn. 

As  regards  the  West  India  trade,  I  am  authorized 
to  accept  the  restricted  list  of  articles  proposed  by 
the  British  plenipotentiaries  in  their  projet  offered 
at  the  eighth  conference;  also  to  submit  to  the  ex 
clusion  of  all  salted  provisions,  and  to  the  confined 
list  of  naval  stores  and  lumber  among  the  importable, 
and  to  the  exclusion  of  sugar  and  coffee  from  the  list 
of  exportable  articles  in  American  vessels,  in  the 
direct  trade.  But  with  the  express  condition,  that 
the  list  of  importable  articles  to  the  West  Indies, 
shall  be  the  same  as  that  to  Bermuda  and  to  the 
British  North  American  colonies;  and  that  the  ex- 


1819.1  COURT  OF  LONDON,  129 

portable  articles  shall  be  confined  to  such  as  are  of 
the  growth,  produce  or  manufacture  of  the  British 
West  India  Islands  and  North  American  colonies  ; 
and  that  no  other  or  higher  duties  shall  be  payable 
on  importations  from  the  United  States,  directly  or 
indirectly,  than  on  similar  articles  imported  from 
any  foreign  country,  or  from  any  of  the  British  co 
lonies  themselves. 

The  foregoing  is  the  substance  of  my  instructions. 
I  have  submitted  articles  to  Lord  Castlereagh  in  con 
formity  with  them,  to  which  an  answer  is  promised 
after  parliament  rises.  I  doubt  their  being  accepted. 
If  they  should  not  be,  I  fancy  our  government 
has  made  up  its  mind  to  go  on  with  the  system  of 
countervailing  laws.  The  opinion  at  home  I  find 
rather  is,  that  we  are  likely  to  succeed  if  we  perse 
vere.  I  enclose  you  a  report  made  to  the  senate  on  this 
subject  last  winter. 

Nothing  has  been  said  to  me  about  impressment, 
or  the  slave  question.  Both  points,  therefore,  rest 
for  the  present,  where  our  joint  negotiation  last 
autumn  left  them. 

I  am  to  be  at  the  Spanish  ambassador's  to-morrow 
night.  Should  I  hear  any  thing  material,  and  Mr. 
Sheldon  have  gone,  I  will  drop  you  a  line  by 
post. 


130  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

Accept  assurances  of  the  respect  and  friendship 
with  which, 

I  am,  dear  Sir, 

Your  ob't.  serv't. 

RICHARD  RUSH. 

To  Albert  Gallatin,  Esquire, 
Envoy  Extraordinary,  and 

Minister  Plenipotentiary  from 
the  United  States — Paris. 

July  2.  Went  to  a  party  at  Grosvenor  House  last 
night;  the  rooms  filled  and  looking  as  before.  Go 
afterwards  to  the  Spanish  ambassador's.  Some  ca 
binet  ministers  are  there,  and  most  of  the  diplomatic 
corps.  Owing  to  the  crowd  and  other  hinderances,  I 
collected  no  information  for  Mr.  Gallatin.  Made 
attempts,  but  was  cut  off  from  all  hope  of  any  suc 
cess. 

July  3.  In  the  course  of  a  dispatch  to  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  of  this  date,  I  mention  that  the  Ame 
rican  steam-ship  Savannah,  Captain  Rogers,  arrived 
at  Liverpool  on  the  twentieth  of  last  month,  to  the 
surprise  of  the  people  of  that  town,  as  she  came  up 
the  river  under  the  power  of  steam.  She  is  a  ves 
sel  of  above  three  hundred  tons'  burden,  as  Captain 
Rogers,  who  has  been  to  see  me,  states;  and  is  the 


1819.1          COURT  OF  LONDON.  13 ^ 

first  that  has  ever  crossed  the  ocean  by  steam.  He 
also  stated  that  she  worked  with  great  ease  and 
safety  on  the  voyage,  and  used  her  steam  full  eigh 
teen  days.  Her  passage  was  twenty-six  days,  the 
weather  in  general  having  been  very  unfavorable ; 
besides  that  she  was  detained  five  days  in  the  Irish 
channel  until  she  could  get  fresh  coal,  his  own 
giving  out  when  she  entered  the  channel.  He  had 
laid  in  fifteen  hundred  bushels.  Her  engine  is 
equal  to  a  seventy-two  horse  power,  and  acts  hori 
zontally.  Her  wheels  are  on  the  sides,  made  of 
iron,  and  removable  at  pleasure.  These  particulars 
he  mentioned,  which  I  repeated  in  my  dispatch. 


132  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1819. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

VISIT  TO  HOLKHAM,  THE  ESTATE  OP  MR.  COKE,  NOR* 
FOLK  COUNTY — THE  SHEEP  SHEARING — PROROGA 
TION  OF  PARLIAMENT — ENTERTAINMENT  AT  CARL- 
TON  HOUSE LORD  CASTLEREAGH  SPEAKS  OF  THE 

FLORIDA  TREATY — WHAT  HE  AFTERWARDS  SAYS 
ON  THAT  SUBJECT,  AND  ON  THE  CASES  OF  ARBUTH- 
NOT  AND  AMBRISTER,  AT  THE  AUSTRIAN  AMBASSA 
DOR'S. 

July  12.  Yesterday  I  returned  from  a  visit  to 
Mr.  Coke,  of  Holkham,  Norfolk  County.  He  in 
vited  me  last  year;  but  unable,  from  duties  under 
an  approaching  negotiation,  to  leave  town  at  that 
time,  I  was  forced  to  decline,  which  gave  me  double 
pleasure  in  accepting  this  year.  I  met  a  large 
company.  We  had  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  the  Earl 
of  Albemarle,  Lord  Huntingfield,  Sir  Henry  Fane, 
Sir  Henry  Erne,  Sir  Jacob  Astley,  Sir  John  Sin 
clair,  Sir  William  Bolton,  General  Fitzroy,  Captain 
Edgell  of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Wilbraham,  of  Cheshire, 
Mr.  Beckford,  of  Suffolk,  Mr.  Maude,  of  Yorkshire, 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  133 

Mr.  Beaumont,  of  the  House  of  Commons,  Dr. 
Rigby,  Mr.  Owen,  Mr.  Bennett,  Sir  Robert  Har- 
land,  the  Marquis  of  Tavistock,  Lord  Barrington, 
the  Earl  of  Bradford,  Lord  Nugent,  and  many 
others  whose  names  I  cannot  recall.  Of  my 
countrymen,  there  were  General  Harper,  of  Mary 
land,  General  Boyd,  of  Boston,  Mr.  Oliver  and  Mr. 
Patterson,  of  Baltimore,  Mr.  Somerville,  of  Mary 
land,  and  Mr.  Ogle  Tayloe,  of  Virginia,  the  latter 
an  attache  to  my  Legation. 

Holkham  is  among  the  best  cultivated  estates  in 
England.  Of  the  entire  system  of  agriculture  by 
which  Mr.  Coke  has  so  greatly  improved  it,  as  well 
as  benefitted  England  by  his  example  of  good 
farming  during  more  than  forty  years,  thus  increas 
ing  the  public  wealth  as  well  as  his  own,  I  am 
not  qualified  to  speak  properly.  The  whole  has 
been  well  described  by  Dr.  Rigby,  of  Norwich,  in 
his  excellent  little  work  entitled,  "  Holkham  and  its 
Agriculture;"  but  I  may  note  in  general  terms  a 
few  of  the  things  which  struck  me  as  an  American 
and  stranger,  in  my  visit  of  a  week  to  this  celebrated 
estate. 

The  occasion  on  which  we  were  assembled  was 
called  the  "  Sheep  Shearing."  It  was  the  forty- 
third  anniversary  of  this  attractive  festival ;  attrac 
tive  even  to  Englishmen — accustomed  as  they  are 
to  agricultural  beauty,  and  to  fine  old  country  home- 

12 


134  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

steads,  established  and  maintained  throughout  ages, 
in  so  many  different  parts  of  England.  The  term 
"  Sheep  Shearing"  conveys,  by  itself,  but  a  limited 
idea  of  what  is  witnessed  at  Holkham.  The  opera 
tions  embrace  every  thing  connected  with  agricul 
ture  in  the  broadest  sense ;  such  as,  an  inspection 
of  all  the  farms  which  make  up  the  Holkham 
estate,  with  the  modes  of  tillage  practised  on  each, 
for  all  varieties  of  crops;  an  exhibition  of  cattle, 
with  the  modes  of  feeding  and  keeping  them ; 
ploughing  matches ;  hay  making ;  a  display  of 
agricultural  implements,  and  modes  of  using  them ; 
the  visiting  of  various  out-buildings,  stables,  and  so 
on,  best  adapted  to  good  farming  and  the  rearing 
and  care  of  stock ;  with  much  more  that  I  need 
not  specify.  Sheep  Shearing  there  was,  indeed; 
but  it  was  only  one  item  in  this  full  round  of 
practical  agriculture.  The  whole  lasted  three  days, 
occupying  the  morning  of  each,  until  dinner  time 
at  about  5  o'clock.  The  shearing  of  sheep,  was  the 
closing  operation  of  the  third  day. 

Such  is  the  general  scene  as  far  as  agriculture  is 
concerned,  which  is  its  primary  object.  Mr.  Coke 
explains  to  his  guests  and  friends,  all  his  processes 
and  results.  This  is  done  without  form,  in  con 
versation  on  his  grounds;  or  at  the  dinner  table; 
and,  even  more  impressively,  on  horseback.  Then 
it  is  that  you  have  more  of  the  port  of  the  old 


X.  f. 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  135 

English  country  gentleman,  as  lie  jovially  rides 
from  field  to  field,  and  farm  to  farm,  attended  by 
his  friends,  who  are  also  mounted.  From  these 
also,  he  invites  inquiry  and  criticism;  and,  from 
those  agricultural  in  their  pursuits,  a  communication 
of  their  modes  of  farming,  that  results  may  be 
compared,  and  truth  the  better  arrived  at  in  this 
great  science. 

Of  the  social  scene  which  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  it  all,  I  hardly  dare  trust  myself  to  speak,  lest 
I  should  seem  to  exaggerate.  The  number  of  Mr. 
Coke's  guests,  meaning  those  lodged  at  his  mansion, 
was,  I  believe,  about  fifty,  comprehending  those  I 
have  named  and  others — as  I  could  scarcely  know 
all  in  a  visit  of  a  wTeek.  But  his  friends  and  neigh 
bors  of  the  county  of  Norfolk,  and  the  country 
gentlemen  and  visitors  from  parts  of  England  further 
off,  arriving  every  morning  after  breakfast,  in  car 
riages  or  on  horseback,  during  the  continuance  of  the 
scene,  under  invitations  from  Mr.  Coke  to  be  present 
at  it  and  stay  to  dinner,  amounted  to  about  six  hun 
dred  each  day.  On  the  second  day,  I  was  informed 
that,  including  the  home  guests,  covers  were  laid 
down  for  six  hundred  and  fifty.  All  were  comfort 
ably  accommodated,  and  fared  sumptuously.  Hoik- 
ham  House  covers  an  acre  of  ground.  Looking  at  it 
on  one  of  the  mornings  after  breakfast,  with  the  Duke 
of  Bedford  and  others,  and  viewing  its  imposing 


136  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

centre,  from  which  proceed  four  wings  connected 
by  corridors,  the  general  conjecture  seemed  to  be, 
that  such  an  edifice  could  scarcely  be  built  at  the 
present  day  for  less  than  half  a  million  of  pounds 
sterling.  *It  was  built,  I  understood,  in  the  middle 
or  early  part  of  last  century  by  Lord  Leicester,  who 
was  many  years  in  Italy,  where  he  studied  the 
models  upon  which,  after  his  return  to  England,  it 
was  erected. 

Of  the  furniture  in  such  a  mansion,  the  paintings, 
tapestry,  rural  ornaments,  and  all  else,  it  need  but 
be  said,  that  they  are  adapted  to  the  mansion  itself; 
ancient,  rich,  and  appropriate.  The  library,  of 
many  thousand  volumes,  is  a  treasure ;  and  (shall  I 
tell  it  ?)  there,  yes,  there,  on  one  of  the  days  when 
I  entered  it,  during  a  short  interval  between  the 
morning  excursions  and  the  dinner  hour,  did  I  catch 
stragglers,  of  the  home  guests,  country  gentlemen 
too,  who  had  not  been  out  to  the  fields  or  farms  at 
all,  although  they  had  come  all  the  way  to  Holkham 
to  attend  the  Sheep  Shearing !  And  no  wonder ! 
In  fact,  they  were  of  the  younger  portion  of  the 
guests  (young-uns,  as  Mr.  Coke  slyly  said,  in  jeering 
them)  not  long  from  the  University;  so  recently, 
that  the  love  of  practically  inspecting  wheat  fields, 
even  if  they  had  yielded  twice  twelve  combs*  the 
acre,  or  of  seeing  turnips  drilled  in  ridges  on  the 

*Ninety-six  bushels. 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  137 

Northumberland  method,  or  of  walking  upon  lawns 
of  grass  where  the  sod  was  formed  by  dotting,  had 
not  yet  so  deadened  classical  ardor  as  to  keep  them 
from  stealing  off  to  where  they  could  find  curious 
editions  of  Pliny,  and  Ovid,  and  the  Georgics ;  or, 
if  they  liked  Italian  better,  lay  their  hands  on  the 
identical  Boccacio,  which  Cosmo  de  Medici  sent  as 
a  present  to  Alphonso,  King  of  Naples ;  or  turn  to 
something  else  seducing  or  curious  in  literature. 
Mr.  Coke  was,  I  believe,  himself,  a  Cambridge  man. 
He  has  been  forty  years  in  parliament,  and  to  this 
day  proclaims  that  he  voted  on  the  side  of  America, 
during  the  war  of  our  revolution  throughout  the 
whole  contest;  even  at  a  time  when  only  two  or 
three  others  in  the  house  of  commons  besides  him 
self,  continued  to  stand  up  for  our  cause. 

On  the  first  day  after  my  arrival  the  company  at 
dinner  consisted  of  the  home  guests  only,  the  agricul 
tural  scenes  not  beginning  until  the  day  following. 
Among  other  massive  plate  upon  the  table,  was  a 
large  fabric  of  silver,  in  the  form  of  an  urn,  highly 
ornamented.  It  stood  conspicuously  as  the  centre 
piece,  and  was  a  present  to  Mr.  Coke  by  the  inhabi 
tants  of  Norfolk,  as  a  mark  of  their  gratitude  for  the 
good  he  had  done  the  county  by  improving  the 
condition  of  its  agriculture,  and  contained  appro 
priate  emblems,  and  an  inscription.  Among  the 
former,  was  a  representation  of  the  mode  of  cultivat- 


138  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

ing  by  drill ;  a  southdown  sheep ;  a  north  Devon 
cow ;  and  other  figures  illustrative  of  improvements 
in  husbandry  introduced,  or  successfully  practised, 
by  Mr.  Coke.  The  inhabitants  of  the  county 
having,  at  first,  opposed  many  of  the  improvements, 
and  especially  on  the  ground  that  his  innovations 
trenched  upon  the  labor  and  comforts  of  the  poor, 
the  insrciption  embraced  an  acknowledgment  of 
their  error  in  terms  complimentary  to  him,  and 
very  honorable  to  them.  It  was  a  beautiful  trophy, 
all  round. 

On  the  first  of  the  festival  days,  the  company  in 
the  statue  gallery,  a  very  large  room,  amounted  pro 
bably  to  a  couple  of  hundred.  All  were  accommo 
dated  at  two  tables.  Mr.  Coke  presided  at  one ;  the 
Duke  of  Bedford  at  the  other.  It  was  my  fortune  to 
be  at  the  former,  and  next  to  Mr.  Coke.  Through 
out  successive  rooms  communicating  with  each 
other,  and  with  the  statue  gallery,  tables  were  laid 
for  all  the  other  guests;  therefore,  though  none  of 
the  tables  were  in  sight  from  the  statue  gallery, 
which  opened  to  the  others  from  doors  at  the  end, 
voices  could  be  heard  from  them  all. 

The  dinner  courses  being  finished,  Mr.  Coke  rose 
to  bid  all  his  guests  welcome,  and  express  the  plea 
sure  he  felt  in  seeing  them  at  Holkham. 

His  first  toast  was  "  LIVE  AND  LET  LIVE."  This 
was  known  to  be  applicable  to  his  own  system, 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  139 

which  was  to  let  his  farms  at  moderate  rents,  under 
leases  not  too  long,  and  not  be  hard  with  his  ten 
ants;  a  system  which,  in  the  long  run,  had  bene- 
fitted  equally  himself  and  his  tenants. 

The  toast  was  received  with  rapturous  applause, 
amounting  to  shouts  of  joy,  from  room  to  room.  As 
the  voices  pealed  through  all,  the  eifect  was  highly 
animating.  It  was  not  less  so  when  the  Duke  of 
Bedford  was  given  as  a  toast,  with  allusions  by  Mr. 
Coke  to  the  services  of  his  family  in  the  cause  of 
English  liberty.  The  shouts,  loud  and  long,  that 
followed  each  toast,  echoing  through  the  apartments 
of  this  stately  mansion,  standing  by  itself  in  the 
centre  of  a  rural  domain,  and  heard  somewhat 
faintly  in  our  statue  gallery  from  the  remote  rooms, 
but  still  heard,  until  the  sounds  died  upon  the 
ear,  had  something  in  them  to  fill  the  fancy.  The 
scene  seemed  to  recall  baronial  days,  the  "  moated 
ramparts,  embattled  towers,  and  trophied  halls."  It 
brought  back  the  remembrance  of  feudal  banquets, 
as  if  here  seen  in  alliance  with  modern  freedom  and 
refinements.  So  at  least  I  felt.  Others  may  have 
had  less  of  this  feeling,  or  none  of  it;  unless  my 
own  countrymen  present.  Perhaps  more  of  the 
romance  of  English  history,  is  apt  to  linger  in  the 
mind  of  an  American  visiting  England,  than  in  an 
Englishman's.  To  the  former,  the  whole  is  an 
abstraction — like  ancient  history — until  he  gets  to 


140  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

England;  then,  Waterloo  bridge  built  yesterday, 
and  vestiges  of  the  olden  time,  are  equally  new  to 
his  senses.  Saxon  days,  Norman  days,  the  Plan- 
tagenets,  the  Tudors,  the  Stuarts,  seem  to  come  over 
him  in  the  midst  of  modern  days,  and  engross  his 
thoughts  and  feelings  at  every  turn. 

Mr.  Coke  gave  my  name  as  a  toast,  to  make  it 
the  medium  of  friendly  sentiments  towards  the 
United  States,  which  he  strongly  expressed,  and 
which  were  echoed  from  room  to  room  in  tones 
gratifying  to  me  and  my  countrymen.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks,  he  paid  a  tribute  to  the 
character  of  Washington.  I  rose  to  make  my  ac 
knowledgments ;  and  in  reference  to  his  notice  of 
Washington,  I  said,  that  it  was  indeed  a  name  to 
which  every  American  looked  with  as  much  of 
veneration  as  might  be  paid  to  a  mortal,  and  that 
the  manner  in  which  it  had  just  been  alluded  to,  and 
received  before  so  numerous  and  distinguished  an 
assemblage  in  England,  was  a  new  proof  that  his 
fame  was  a  part  of  history,  and  his  virtues  the  pro 
perty  of  mankind.  I  spoke  of  Mr.  Coke  as  the 
friend  of  America,  whom  we  honored  as  such,  yet 
ever  true  to  his  own  country  whilst  loving  ours; 
and  I  asked  permission  to  propose,  as  a  toast,  "  MR. 
COKE  AND  THE  HOLKHAM  AGRICULTURE,"  not  mere 
ly  as  a  high  gratification  to  my  own  feelings, 
but  from  being  sure  also  that  my  countrymen 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  141 

would   all  eagerly  join  in  it.      The  toast,  I  need 
scarcely  add,  was  received  with  like  plaudits. 

The  Holkham  estate  commands  in  part  a  view  of 
the  sea,  to  which  some  of  its  boundaries  extend. 
Although  the  sittings  at  dinner  each  day  were  not 
short,  under  the  abundant  topics  and  occasional 
speeches  (happily  none  of  them  long)  which  the 
festivities  drew  out,  there  is  yet  so  prolonged  a  twi 
light  in  England  at  this  season,  that  a  remnant  of 
time  was  on  hand  for  walks  or  drives,  after  rising 
from  table.  On  leaving  it  one  of  the  evenings,  Mr. 
Coke  invited  me  to  a  seat  with  him  in  his  carriage. 
After  our  active  campaign  on  horseback  all  the 
morning,  and  the  exciting  scene  at  the  dinner  table 
during  several  hours,  a  quiet  drive  in  the  cool  of  the 
evening,  through  beautiful  scenery  and  grounds, 
with  such  a  host,  was  a  delightful  recreation  with 
which  to  close  such  a  day,  and  fill  up  the  measure 
of  its  agreeable  recollections.  We  went  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  sea.  Still  full  of  the  topics  of  the  day, 
he  could  not  speak  but  to  impart  information.  He 
said  that  his  timber,  by  careful  planting,  annually 
yielded  almost  as  large  a  revenue  as  the  whole  of  his 
estate,  when  he  first  came  to  the  possession  of  it.  It 
was  chiefly  the  chestnut  and  black  Italian  poplar 
that  he  planted — sometimes  other  sorts,  and  always 
in  quantities  to  replace,  as  each  year  came  round, 
the  number  of  acres  annually  deprived  of  timber. 


142  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

Time  thus  kept  up  the  supply,  planting  keeping 
even  pace  with  cutting  down;  a  process  the  more 
striking  to  an  American,  in  whose  country,  timber, 
for  the  most  part,  is  removed  to  get  at  the  soil, 
instead  of  being  grown  as  an  agricultural  crop,  to 
yield  its  annual  harvests.  Something  else  he  said, 
which  may  deserve  a  memorandum.  It  was,  that 
although  banking  along  the  sea  side  was  considered 
the  hardest  work  done  in  Norfolk  county  by  labor 
ing  men,  those  who  followed  it  drank  nothing  but 
water;  they  had  plenty  of  animal  food,  but  found 
their  strength  fail  them  if  they  drank  either  beer  or 
spirits. 

As  the  chariot  rolled  on,  we  forgot  agriculture  in 
other  and  easy  talk.  He  told  anecdotes.  We  had 
been  out  an  hour.  Presently  we  approached  the 
little  town  of  Wells,  near  the  sea — a  fishing  town. 
The  wind  freshened,  and  we  drew  up  the  glasses  as 
night  came  on.  He  asked,  if  I  knew  any  thing  of 
********.  I  replied  that  I  did,  by  rumor;  it  was 
a  South  Carolina  story — a  sad  one.  There,  he  said, 
in  that  little  town,  the  person  lives,  unknown  to  all. 
We  staid  a  few  minutes  in  the  town,  and  could  hear, 
as  darkness  was  closing  around  us,  the  surging  of 
the  waters  on  the  shore.  Seated  again  in  the  cha 
riot,  our  familiar  conversation  was  resumed.  We 
were  soon  in  view  of  Holkham  House  once  more, 
the  twinkling  lights  showing  that  its  festivities  were 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  143 

not  yet  all  at  an  end.  When  we  got  in,  it  was  past 
ten.  The  general  dinner  company  had  dispersed; 
but  of  the  home  guests,  a  number  still  remained  in 
the  drawing  rooms — some  conversing  in  little  knots, 
others  seated  at  whist  tables.  By  eleven,  most  of 
them  had  dropped  off  to  their  bed  rooms.  The  few 
left,  had  a  summons  to  supper  in  the  statue  gallery. 
Our  table,  to  be  sure,  was  of  dimensions  different 
from  those  at  dinner ;  but  we  were  headed  by  our 
host.  Lord  Nugent  was  of  the  small  group,  and 
well  able  to  help  keep  the  ball  of  conversation  in 
motion  at  a  late  hour.  It  was  in  courtesy  to  me, 
that  he  made  Commodore  Perry  of  our  navy,  one  of 
his  topics.  He  said,  that  when  travelling  in  Italy, 
he  had  rmet  him,  and,  on  his  invitation,  took  a  little 
trip  with  him  from  one  of  the  Mediterranean  ports, 
in  his  frigate — then  the  Java.  He  was  struck  with 
his  chivalrous  character;  and,  for  his  seamanship, 
mentioned  this  incident :  that  whilst  attempting  to 
beat  his  frigate  through  the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  a 
British  frigate  was  close  in  view.  Some  of  the  offi 
cers  in  the  latter,  not  thinking  it  could  be  done,  as 
the  wind  set,  made  bets  upon  the  issue.  The  Java 
did  it  handsomely,  which  drew  loud  hurras  from  the 
winners  on  the  English  deck.  Midnight  passed 
before  we  went  to  bed. 

The  foregoing  comprise  some  of  the  recollections 
of  my  visit.     They  give  but  an  inadequate  descrip- 


144  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

tion  of  the  interest  and  beauty  of  the  whole  scene. 
Of  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Coke  dispensed  the 
hospitalities  of  the  week,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
say  too  much.  All  received  from  him  the  greatest 
attention  and  kindness.  His  landed  property  in 
Norfolk,  comprehends,  I  understood,  more  than 
thirty  thousand  acres,  and  he  has  estates  in  other 
parts  of  England.  His  income  from  the  whole,  is 
rated,  I  believe,  at  sixty  thousand  pounds  sterling 
a  year,  going  higher,  when  agricultural  prices  are 
high.  On  one  of  the  days,  we  were  shown  through 
all  the  offices  of  the  basement  story  of  the  house, 
and  taken  into  the  cellars.  The  latter  were  filled 
with  the  abundant  and  various  stores  and  wines  to 
have  been  expected  at  a  country  homestead  in  Eng 
land,  long  the  seat  of  that  species  of  hospitality 
where  it  would  be  hard  to  decide  whether  the  eye 
is  most  struck  with  what  is  munificent,  or  the  heart 
with  what  is  kind.  I  had  reason  to  know,  that  at 
Christmas,  and  other  seasons  devoted  to  country  fes 
tivities  in  England,  although  Holkham  House  was 
not  indeed  filled  as  I  lately  saw  it,  its  hospitalities 
were  bravely  kept  up.  Mr.  Blakie,  the  steward  of 
Mr.  Coke,  informed  us  that  the  annual  cost  of  malt 
liquors  used  for  the  entire  Holkham  establishment, 
including  the  working  people  out  of  doors,  as  well 
as  servants  of  the  household,  was  three  thousand 
pounds.  This  included  the  taxes  upon  it.  The 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  145 

enclosure  round  the  park,  is  ten  miles  in  extent. 
The  arrangement  and  beauty  of  the  gardens,  and 
extent  and  productiveness  of  the  kitchen  garden, 
may  be  conceived  better  than  I  could  describe  them. 

As  to  field  sports,  fox  hounds  are  no  longer  kept, 
Mr.  Coke  having  given  them  up  in  the  early  part 
of  his  life.  But  as  for  game,  that  pursuit  goes  on, 
con  amore,  as  may  be  inferred  when  I  venture  to 
repeat  what  he  told  me ;  viz.  that  a  few  years  ago, 
himself  and  friends  had  shot  upon  his  grounds 
during  the  shooting  season,  twelve  thousand  rabbits 
and  three  thousand  hares,  with  the  full  proportion 
of  pheasants  and  partridges. 

Here  I  must  end  my  little  record  of  the  Holkham 
Sheep  Shearing.  It  has  been  faithfully  but  im 
perfectly  made  from  notes  taken  on  my  return  from 
it.  Excellent  as  the  Holkham  agriculture  was 
reputed  to  be  in  its  day,  what  have  not  been  the  inter 
mediate  improvements  ?  "  SCIENCE  WITH  PRAC 
TICE/'  to  take  the  appropriate  motto  of  the  Agricul 
tural  Society  now  established  and  in  operation  for 
all  England,  instead  of  letting  agriculture  depend 
only  on  the  local  societies  as  formerly,  seems  to  have 
been  working  almost  the  same  proportional  results 
for  the  productiveness  of  the  soil  of  late  years  in 
that  country,  which  steam  has  been  effecting  in 
commerce  and  the  mechanic  arts,  there,  and  every 
where.  Her  example  in  agriculture  is  worth  atten- 

13 


146  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

lion.  The  improvements  going  on  within  her  bor 
ders  in  that  great  pursuit,  seem  to  give  promise  that 
Britain's  home  dominions  may  sustain  a  population 
of  eighty  or  a  hundred  millions  a  century  hence, 
more  easily  than  thirty  millions  now ;  so  vast  are  the 
results  which  modern  science  and  practice  are  effect 
ing,  by  thorough  drainage  and  other  means,  in  the 
power  of  producing  food  for  the  sustenance  of  man. 
It  was  only  in  the  autumn  of  1843,  that  Sir  Robert 
Peel  in  his  speech  at  the  "Tamworth  Farmer's 
Club,"  is  reported  to  have  stated,  from  experiments 
on  his  own  estates,  that  a  modern  species  of  manure 
called  "Potter's  Composition"  had  made  his  ground 
more  productive  in  the  proportion  of  one-sixth, 
than  when  stable  manure  was  used ;  and  that  guano, 
introduced  still  more  recently,  rendered  it  produc 
tive  in  the  further  proportion  of  one-fourth  more 
than  was  effected  by  "  Potter's  Composition."  He 
is  reported  to  have  said,  in  the  same  speech,  that 
"  if  any  of  the  tenants  on  his  estates  felt  themselves 
injured  by  rabbits  or  hares,  eager  sportsman  as  he 
was,  he  would  be  ready  to  consent  to  their  destruc 
tion."  When  the  prime  minister  of  England,  with 
all  his  other  labors  and  solicitudes,  is  seen  thus 
zealously  to  lend  himself  to  practical  improvements 
in  agriculture,  it  may  be  taken  as  one  strong  omen, 
in  connexion  with  the  many  others,  that  great  and 
substantial  improvements  are  at  hand. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  147 

But  no  matter  what  may  be  in  the  future,  Mr. 
Coke  will  ever  take  honorable  rank  among  the 
pioneers  in  the  great  work.  Come  what  will,  the 
"  Holkham  Sheep  Shearing "  will  long  live  in 
English  rural  annals.  Long  will  tradition  speak  of 
them  as  uniting  improvements  in  agriculture,  to 
an  abundant  cordial  and  joyous  hospitality.* 

July  13.  A  note  from  the  master  of  ceremonies 
having  informed  me  that  the  prorogation  of  Parlia 
ment  takes  place  by  the  Prince  Regent  in  person  to 
day  at  two  o'clock,  I  go  to  the  House  of  Lords  to 
witness  it.  Forms  wer%  much  the  same  as  last 
year,  when  Parliament  was  dissolved.  Novelty 
therefore  did  not  attract  me,  and  I  will  not  repeat 
the  description ;  but  being  notified  of  the  ceremonial 
by  an  officer  of  the  royal  household,  I  attended,  as 
did  the  other  foreign  ambassadors  and  ministers. 
A  similar  notice  is  given  to  them  at  the  opening 
of  Parliament,  whenever  the  Sovereign  opens  it  in 
person. 

July  16.  Went  with  my  wife  to  a  "Fancy 
Ball,"  at  Carlton  House  last  night.  The  company 
consisted  of  probably  more  than  a  thousand.  A 

*  Mr.  Coke  died  as  Earl  of  Leicester  about  two  years  ago ;  and  late 
accounts  state,  that  a  column  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  height,  with 
the  proper  emblematical  devices,  is  to  be  reared  in  Norfolk  county  to  his 
agricultural  renown. 


148  RESIDENCE    AT  THE  [1819. 

fancy  ball  means,  that  dresses  are  to  be  worn,  not 
solely  in  the  fashion  of  the  present  day  in  England, 
but  at  the  fancy  of  the  wearer;  and  accordingly, 
the  fashions  of  past  ages  and  different  nations,  are 
adopted.  The  effect  is  highly  picturesque.  A  feu 
dal  baron  of  king  John's  time ;  a  crusader  of  the 
train  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion ;  a  French  Knight 
of  the  13th  century,  the  Black  Prince  himself,  and 
a  modern  Tyrolese  rifleman,  may  all  be  seen  in  the 
same  group.  As  to  the  ladies,  one  may  be  dressed 
like  a  shepherdess  of  the  Alps ;  another  to  personate 
the  maid  of  Orleans ;  a  third,  move  in  state  under  a 
full  court  dress  of  the  da^s  of  Queen  Elizabeth; 
a  fourth  be  in  character  as  the  lady  Phillipa  of  Hain- 
ault ;  a  fifth  as  a  flower  girl,  and  so  on,  throughout 
an  endless  variety  of  characters.  I  am  not  meaning 
to  say,  exactly  how  the  company  were  dressed  last 
night,  but  only  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  fancy 
ball !  If  any  of  the  characters  last  night,  violated 
the  proprieties  of  the  age  into  which  they  stepped, 
educated  eyes  would  detect  them;  which  obliged 
the  groups  of  patrician  dramatis  personse,  to  revive 
their  antiquarian  learning  in  the  field  of  costume. 
It  may  be  inferred,  that  no  cost  was  spared  to  meet 
the  requisitions  of  this  emulous  scene  at  the  domicil 
of  an  English  Sovereign;  and  that  among  the  many 
voluntary  participants  in  it,  resources  of  art  and 
taste,  were  sometimes  drawn  upon  in  ways  to  attract 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  149 

favorable  notice.  The  foreign  ambassadors  and 
ministers,  members  of  the  cabinet,  and  other  official 
persons,  were  dressed  as  usual.  These  or  portions 
of  them,  appeared  to  be  occupied  in  beholding  the 
pageant ;  or,  it  may  be,  that  some  were  freshening 
their  historical  recollections  under  these  outward 
characteristics  of  some  six  hundred  years,  personified 
before  their  eyes  in  the  Royal  apartments.  Mr. 
Canning,  with  whom  I  talked,  appeared  to  enjoy  it 
all,  with  quite  a  zest ;  as  did  probably  other  grave 
members  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  who  were 
present  in  the  usual  dress  for  evening  entertainments 
in  the  court  circles.  And  why  not  enjoy  it  ?  The 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  his  address  to 
the  Prince  Regent  when  the  prorogation  took  place, 
had,  only  a  day  or  two  before,  declared  it  to  have 
been  one  of  the  longest  and  most  arduous  sessions 
known  to  the  records  of  England ;  and  is  not  recrea 
tion  due  after  such  labors  ? 

Public  men  however  think  of  public  affairs  at  all 
times,  and  last  night  was  no  exception.  More  than 
one  member  of  the  diplomatic  corps  asked  me  in 
whispers,  if  I  felt  sure  that  England  had  no  hand 
in  stopping  the  ratification  of  the  Florida  treaty? 
I  replied,  that  I  was  unwilling  to  believe  it.  One 
of  them  said,  that  the  rumors  were  strong  to  that 
effect. 

But  why  should  the  matter  remain  in  doubt,  when 


150  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

it  might  be  made  certain?  Lord  Castlereagh  was 
present.  See  him  where  you  would,  he  had  always 
an  ear  for  public  affairs.  I  sought  him  in  the  glit 
tering  throng.  But  to  be  able  to  speak  to  a  minis 
ter  of  state  at  such  a  time  in  the  way  you  desire,  is 
not  always  easy.  Others  seek  him  as  well  as  your 
self.  There  is  always  something  to  be  said  to  the 
foreign  secretary  of  a  great  nation,  when  the  repre 
sentatives  of  other  nations  and  his  own  official  col 
leagues,  surround  him,  even  though  it  be  at  a 
"  Fancy  Ball.'1  Some  go  to  such  scenes,  with  per 
haps  no  other  object  than  to  put  a  question  to  him, 
better  so  asked,  than  under  circumstances  more 
formal.  Hence,  you  have  to  watch  your  chance. 
Mine  came,  at  last,  when  the  entertainment  was 
well  nigh  over.  Then,  after  an  introductory  remark, 
I  said  to  his  Lordship,  how  much  the  interest  of  the 
evening  would  be  increased  to  me,  if  he  would  put 
it  in  my  power  to  say  to  my  government,  that  it 
was  through  no  wish  of  His  Majesty's  government 
delays  occurred  in  the  ratification  of  our  treaty,  that 
thus  my  own  belief  might  be  confirmed. 

He  replied,  that  the  difficulties,  of  whatever  nature 
they  might  be,  rested  with  Spain  entirely,  for  that 
England  was  doing  nothing  to  delay  the  ratification ; 
and  of  this,  I  might  feel  assured. 

It  was  very  satisfactory  to  me  to  come  away  with 
such  an  assurance  from  Lord  Castlereagh.  The 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  151 

pleasure  of  mingling  in  a  scene  otherwise  attractive, 
would  have  been  marred  by  the  least  intimation  to 
the  contrary. 

July  19.  Went  to  Prince  Esterhazy's  last  night, 
the  entertainment  being  in  honor  of  the  birthday  of 
his  Sovereign.  The  Prince  Regent  was  there,  and 
in  compliment  to  the  occasion,  wore  the  uniform  of 
an  Austrian  Field  Marshal,  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
doing  the  same.  There  were  present  also,  the  Duke 
and  Dutchess  of  York,  the  Duke  and  Dutchess  of 
Kent,  the  Duke  and  Dutchess  of  Gloucester;  the 
Princess  Augusta,  Prince  Leopold,*  the  foreign 
ambassadors  and  ministers  and  their  ladies,  and 
Lord  and  Lady  Castlereagh,  with  several  of  the 
cabinet  ministers  and  their  ladies ;  the  company  not 
being  numerous  but  of  much  distinction. 

I  had  a  conversation  with  Lord  Castlereagh,  more 
than  commonly  interesting ;  for  a  notice  of  which, 
other  incidents  of  the  entertainment  will  be  passed 
over. 

I  improved  a  convenient  moment  for  approaching 
him,  to  express  the  pleasure  I  had  derived  from 
what  he  said  at  Carlton  House  a  few  evenings  before, 
about  the  Florida  treaty. 

He  now  remarked,  with  all  friendliness  of  manner, 
that  His  Majesty's  government  neither  had  done, 

*  Afterwards  king  of  Belgium. 


152  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

nor  would  do,  any  thing  whatever  to  prevent  or 
retard,  its  ratification. 

I  here  renewed  the  expression  of  my  satisfaction ; 
telling  him  also,  that  I  had  already  reported  to  my 
government  the  assurance,  transient  and  informal  as 
it  was,  which  he  had  given  me  at  Carlton  House. 

He  then  recurred,  of  his  own  accord,  to  the  affair 
of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister.  He  remarked,  that  it 
had  been  a  case  of  no  common  difficulty;  the  cabi 
net  had  found  it  so,  and  he  hoped  that  the  proper 
inferences  would  be  drawn  by  the  government  of 
of  the  United  States,  respecting  the  conciliatory  dis 
positions  of  England  on  that  occasion. 

I  replied,  that  I  believed  my  government  would 
not  fail  to  draw  the  proper  inferences,  and  certainly 
I  had  not  failed  in  making  communications  to  it  calcu 
lated  to  lead  to  them ;  for  that  here,  on  the  spot,  I 
had  seen  and  fully  appreciated  the  difficulties  which 
encompassed  His  Majesty's  ministers ;  whose  wisdom 
and  firmness,  throughout  that  whole  transaction,  if 
I  might  presume  to  say  so,  I  considered  a  blessing 
to  both  countries.  He  then  added  these  words : 
That  had  the  English  cabinet  felt  and  acted  other 
wise  than  it  did,  such  was  the  temper  of  parliament 
and  such  the  feeling  of  the  country,  he  believed 

WAR  MIGHT  HAVE    BEEN    PRODUCED    BY    HOLDING    UP 

A  FINGER  ;  and  he  even  thought  an  address  to  the 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  153 

crown  might  have  been  carried  for  one,  BY  NEARLY 

AN  UNANIMOUS  VOTE. 

These  words  made  their  impression  upon  me.  I 
thought  them  memorable  at  the  time.  I  think  so 
still.  They  were  calmly  but  deliberately  spoken. 
Lord  Castlereagh  was  not  a  man  to  speak  hastily. 
Always  self-possessed,  always  firm  and  fearless,  his 
judgment  was  the  guide  of  his  opinions,  and  his 
opinions  of  his  conduct,  undaunted  by  opposition, 
in  Parliament  or  out  of  it.  Political  foes  conceded 
to  him  these  qualities.  What  he  said  to  me  on  this 
occasion  I  have  reasons  for  knowing  he  said  to 
others,  in  effect,  if  not  in  words ;  and  I  wrote  his 
words  to  my  government.  The  lapse  of  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ought  not  to  diminish  the  feeling  properly 
due  to  a  British  ministry  which,  by  its  single  will, 
resisting  the  nearly  universal  feeling  of  the  two  great 
parties  of  the  kingdom,  in  all  probability  prevented 
a  war ;  a  war  into  which  passion  might  have  rushed, 
but  for  the  preponderating  calmness  and  reason  in 
those  who  wielded  at  that  epoch  the  executive  power 
of  England. 


154  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 


CHAPTER   X. 


ORDER  IN  COUNCIL  PROHIBITING  THE  EXPORTATION 
OF  ARMS  TO  SPAIN.  PARTY  AT  PRINCE  LEOPOLD'S. 
LETTERS  TO  MR.  GALLATIN,  AND  COLONEL  TRUM- 
BULL.  DINNER  AT  THE  VICE  CHANCELLOR'S.  NOTICE 
OF  CERTAIN  MEASURES  OF  PARLIAMENT,  AMONGST 
THEM,  MR.  PEEL'S  REPORT  ON  THE  CURRENCY. 


July  20.  By  an  order  in  council  passed  last  week, 
the  exportation  of  gunpowder,  saltpetre,  or  of  arms 
and  amunition  of  any  description  from  the  ports  of 
Great  Britain,  to  any  ports  within  the  dominion  of 
the  king  of  Spain,  is  prohibited.  This  interdict 
comes  opportunely  after  the  Foreign  Enlistment  bill. 
It  takes  the  ground  as  far  as  it  goes,  of  neutrality  in 
substance  as  well  as  name  between  Spain  and  the 
colonies;  there  having  been  an  order  in  force  for 
some  time  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  the  same 
things  to  Spanish  America. 

July  23.  Last  night  we  were  at  Prince  Leopold's, 
Marlborough  House.  The  Prince  Regent  and 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  155 

most  of  the  Royal  Family,  were  there;  a  great 
assemblage  of  nobility;  the  foreign  ambassadors 
and  ministers,  with  many  others  of  the  court  circle. 

This  Prince,  consort  of  the  late  heiress  presump 
tive  to  the  throne,  long  in  retirement  after  her  death, 
now  returns  to  society,  and  Marlborough  House, 
built  for  the  great  Duke  of  Marlborough,  becomes 
his  residence  and  scene  of  his  hospitalities.  Being 
there,  for  the  first  time,  last  night,  I  could  not  divest 
myself  of  the  historical  associations  which  belong 
to  the  house.  The  spacious  hall  is  ornamented  with 
paintings  illustrative  of  the  Duke's  victories.  Among 
them  is  the  great  battle  of  Hochstadt,  (or  Blenheim) 
where  the  French  commander,  Tallard,  was  taken ; 
and  where  he,  the  Duke,  and  Prince  Eugene,  are 
all  represented.  In  the  principal  drawing  room, 
hangs  a  full-length  portrait  of  the  late  Princess 
Charlotte,  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence. 

One  anecdote  connected  with  this  edifice,  bearing 
the  historical  name  of  "  Marlborough  House,"  is, 
that,  when  first  erected,  it  so  overshadowed  St. 
James's  Palace,  which  it  adjoins,  as  to  excite  the 
jealousy  of  Queen  Anne.  Others  are  told,  pointing 
to  the  supposed  avarice  of  the  Duke  whilst  it  was 
building,  which  need  not  be  repeated;  the  less,  as  in 
a  conversation  I  had  the  honor  to  hold  with  a  dis 
tinguished  lady  at  this  party,  we  spoke  of  Coxe's  life 
of  Marlborough,  lately  published,  where  the  Duke's 


156  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

private  correspondence,  given  with  all  apparent 
fidelity,  does  not,  as  we  both  agreed,  seem  to  show 
any  traces  of  the  disposition  to  avarice  so  long  and 
generally  imputed  to  him.  The  same  lady  spoke  of 
Evelyn's  Memoirs,  a  recent  attractive  publication, 
which  she  had  also  been  reading,  and  which  she 
commended  highly. 

July  24.  Yesterday,  Mr.  Bourke,  the  Danish 
minister,  and  Mrs.  Bourke;  Count  Ludolf,  Neapoli 
tan  minister,  and  Countess  Ludolf;  Baron  Langs- 
dorff,  minister  from  Baden  and  Hesse;  Baron  Bulow, 
Prussian  Charge  d' Affaires;  General  Cadwalader, 
Mr.  David  Parish,  and  Dr.  B oilman,  the  three  last 
of  the  United  States,  dine  with  us.  Count  Ludolf 
tells  me  that  Sir  Henry  Wellesley,  British  Ambas 
sador  at  Madrid,  writes  word  to  his  government 
that  the  Florida  treaty  will  be  ratified.  He  also 
mentions  a  report  that  the  Chevalier  de  Onis  has 
been  forbidden  to  enter  Madrid;  and  informs  me 
that  affairs  between  Spain  and  Portugal  remain 
unsettled,  the  former  still  refusing  an  adjustment  of 
the  difficulty  about  Montevideo,  upon  the  basis  pro 
posed  by  the  Allied  Powers  at  Aix  la  Chapelle. 

July  25.  Write  the  following  letter  to  Mr.  Galla- 
tin,  which  belongs  to  the  topics  of  that  of  the  30th 
of  June : 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  157 

LONDON,  July  25,  1819. 

Dear  Sir, — Your  letter  of  the  9th  instant  was 
delivered  to  me  by  Mr.  Gibbs,  and  I  am  under  obli 
gations  to  you  for  the  views  which  it  presents  of  our 
affairs.  It  was  a  relief  to  me,  in  the  present  state  of 
them,  to  be  favored  with  your  opinions. 

I  have  to  thank  you  also  for  the  copy  of  Mr.  For- 
syth's  letter,*  which  you  were  so  good  as  to  enclose. 
I  pray  you  to  excuse  my  now  troubling  you  with 
one  for  him,  which  I  venture  to  do  from  supposing 
that  you  may  be  able  to  command  better  means  of 
forwarding  it  to  Madrid  than  I  possess. 

Although  your  letter  seems  to  take  for  granted 
that  ******  is  here,  I  have  not  yet  been 
able  to  ascertain  the  fact.  The  newspaper  notice  of 
his  arrival,  I  have  reason  to  know,  rested  on  conjec 
ture  only.  Nevertheless,  he  may  be  here ;  and  if 
it  be  a  part  of  his  purpose  to  keep  out  of  view,  I 
need  not  say  to  you  how  many  chances  of  success 
London  will  afford  him. 

But  perhaps  it  will  be  deemed  more  important 
when  I  inform  you,  that  I  have  had  two  interesting 
conversations  with  Lord  Castlereagh  himself,  on  the 
subject  of  our  treaty  with  Spain ;  and  I  am  happy 
to  add,  that  he  assures  me  this  government  has 
taken  no  steps  whatever  to  prevent  its  ratification, 
and  does  not  mean  to  give  us  any  trouble  on  this 

*  Mr.  Forsyth  succeeded  Mr.  Ewing  as  United  States  Minister  to  Spain. 

14 


158  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

head.  Such  assurances  have  not  been  limited  to 
me  alone.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  has 
uttered  similar  sentiments  in  some  of  the  circles  of 
the  diplomatic  corps.  The  enclosed  letter  to  Mr. 
Forsyth  conveys  to  him,  the  information  of  these 
assurances. 

I  have  waited  for  a  private  opportunity  to  send 
this  letter,  and  will  be  sure  to  afford  you  any  further 
information  I  may  acquire,  which  I  think  may  be 
acceptable  you. 

I  am,  Dear  Sir, 

in  great  Respect  and  Friendship, 

your  Obedient  Servant, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
ALBERT  GALLATIN,  Esquire, 

Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
from  the  United  States — Paris. 

July  28.  I  give  place  to  a  letter  below,  addressed 
to  Colonel  Trumbull,  President  of  the  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts  in  New  York,  relating  to  a  full  length 
portrait  of  Mr.  West,  President  of  the  Royal 
Academy  in  London,  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence; 
towards  the  painting  of  which  the  New  York 
Academy  had  asked  my  superintendence.  This  I 
was  happy  to  give,  glad  that  so  rising  an  Institution 
in  our  country  dedicated  to  the  Fine  Arts,  should 
have  been  ambitious  of  obtaining  the  likeness  of  Mr. 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  159 

West,  whom  America  claims  as  a  native  son.  The 
letter  may  serve  in  some  degree  to  show  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  employments  of  the  first  portrait 
painter  in  England  at  that  day. 

LONDON,  July  28?  1819. 

Dear  Sir, — It  is  with  great  concern  I  have  to 
state,  that  the  portrait  of  Mr.  West  still  remains 
unfinished.  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  left  London  for 
Aix  la  Chapelle,  shortly  after  my  communication  to 
you  in  August  last,  with  a  view,  I  believe,  to  take 
the  likenesses  of  some  of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe, 
expected  to  assemble  there.  He  proceeded  thence 
to  other  parts  of  the  continent,  and  to  this  day  has 
not  got  back  to  England.  It  is  painful  to  me  to 
inform  you  that  Mr.  West  again  lies  ill,  and  that 
there  are  but  feeble  hopes  of  his  permanent  recov 
ery.  I  understand  Sir  Thomas  says,  that  the  picture 
is  sufficiently  advanced  in  its  essential  points  to  be 
completed  with  every  advantage,  in  the  event  of  Mr. 
West's  death;  but  on  this  subject  I  cannot  at  pre 
sent  speak  with  confidence,  and  as  little  can  I  make 
inquiry  of  the  venerable  President  himself.  I  cannot 
affirm,  with  accuracy,  how  many  pictures  were  left 
by  Sir  Thomas  in  an  unfinished  state  when  he  went 
away;  but  in  such  universal  demand  is  his  pencil  in 
the  leading  classes  throughout  England,  that  I 
remember  it  was  a  current  saying,  that  he  had 
begun  more  than  a  life  of  a  hundred  years  would 


160  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

enable  him  to  complete.  There  seem  peculiarly 
strong  reasons  why  the  Academy  at  New  York  ought 
not  to  be  among  the  disappointed,  and  I  will  cherish 
the  hope  that  this  is  not  to  be  the  case. 

As  soon  after  Sir  Thomas's  return  as  I  may  find 
it  practicable  to  obtain  an  interview  with  him,  I  will 
again  write  to  you ;  and,  in  the  meantime,  have  the 
honor  to  be, 

With  great  respect, 

your  obedient  servant, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
To  I.  TRUMBULL,  Esquire, 
President  of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts, 

New  York. 

I  add,  that  the  picture  was,  in  the  end,  finished, 
and  safely  received  by  the  Academy  in  New  York. 

July  29.  Dine  with  the  Vice  Chancellor,  Sir 
John  Leech.  His  Royal  Highness,  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  General  Mathews,  Sir  Archibald  Mur 
ray,  the  Marchioness  of  Downshire,  Lady  Clare, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stanhope,  and  others,  were  of  the 
company. 

The  Duke  of  Gloucester  had  been  on  a  visit  to 
Holkham  since  the  sheep-shearing,  and  he  spoke  of 
it.  He  agreed  to  the  description  given  of  it  by  Sir 
Benjamin  Hobhouse,  namely,  that  all  "  Mr.  Coke's 
farms  seemed  like  horticulture  upon  a  great  scale ;" 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  161 

and  added  that  the  Holkham  estate  could  hardly  be 
better  described  in  a  few  words. 

The  Vice  Chancellor  is  among  the  many  instances 
illustrating  the  democratical  part  of  the  British  con 
stitution,  as  does  the  present  Lord  Chancellor ;  both 
these  high  functionaries,  the  latter  uniting  the  high 
est  honors  of  the  state  with  those  of  the  law,  having 
risen  to  their  posts  without  any  aids  from  family 
or  fortune,  relying  upon  nothing  but  their  talents, 
industry,  integrity,  and  unshaken  perseverance. 

July  30.  Under  this  date,  I  write  a  dispatch  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  with  some  account  of  the 
measures  of  the  session  of  Parliament  lately  ended, 
limiting  it  to  those  which  bear  upon  the  interests  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  a  few  of  the  subjects  of 
primary  importance,  affecting  the  home  interests  of 
this  kingdom. 

Under  the  former  head  I  mention,  1st,  the  act  for 
carrying  into  more  full  effect  the  convention  which 
Mr.  Gallatin  and  I  negotiated  with  this  government 
last  October,  the  eighth  section  of  which  provides 
that  no  higher  duties  are  henceforth  to  be  laid,  under 
any  pretext  whatever,  on  American  vessels  enter 
ing  British  ports,  than  are  payable  on  British  vessels; 
the  act  thus  redeeming  the  promises  made  to  me 
by  Mr.  Robinson,  under  my  remonstrances  to  the 
British  government  on  this  subject. 

14* 


162  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

2dly,  I  mention  the  resolution  which  passed  each 
House  of  Parliament,  to  present  an  address  to  the 
Prince  Regent,  requesting  that  His  Majesty's  minis 
ters  would  renew  their  efforts  with  foreign  powers, 
and  particularly  with  France  and  the  United  States, 
for  rendering  the  laws  passed  against  the  slave  trade 
•  more  effectual;  stating  that  it  was  on  the  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne's  motion  that  the  resolution  passed  the 
House  of  Lords  in  this  form,  and  on  the  motion  of 
Mr.  Wilberforce  that  it  passed  the  House  of  Com 
mons. 

As  regards  the  principal  home  measures,  I  men 
tion,  1st,  THE  LEVYING  OF  NEW  TAXES.  The  whole 

expenses  of  the  year  up  to  April,  being  in  round 
numbers,  sixty-seven  millions  of  pounds,  (including 
fifteen  millions  applied  towards  reducing  the  nation 
al  debt,)  and  the  income  fifty-four  millions,  I  state 
that  a  loan  of  twelve  millions,  was,  in  this  condition 
of  the  finances,  negotiated  during  the  year;  and  new 
taxes  imposed  in  the  shape  of  excise  on  consumable 
articles,  and  new  custom-house  duties,  in  expecta 
tion  that  the  whole  would  add  three  millions  to  the 
revenue. 

2.  I  speak  of  THE  POOR  LAWS,  and  sums  raised 
under  them,  being  an  aggregate  of  about  eight  mil 
lions  sterling  for  the  year;  saying  that  it  seems 
agreed  on  all  hands  to  be  the  heaviest  pecuniary 
burden  as  a  single  one,  which  England  has  to  bear; 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  163 

and  that  how  to  get  rid  of,  or  mitigate  it,  seems  to 
perplex  her  wisest  men.  And  I  state,  that,  in  the 
midst  of  conflicting  and  anxious  opinions,  taken  up 
independent  of  party,  the  plan  of  Mr.  Robert  Owen 
has  been  deemed  of  sufficient  interest,  from  its  no 
velty,  to  become  a  subject  of  investigation  and  debate 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  I  briefly  describe  the 
plan  as  one  for  gathering  together  all  the  destitute 
of  the  manufacturing  and  laboring  classes  into  regu 
lar  villages  or  districts  of  country,  in  the  proportion 
of  one  person  to  every  acre  of  land,  with  some  estab 
lished  police  or  authority  for  enforcing  within  these 
villages,  a  proper  routine  of  agricultural,  horticul 
tural,  and  manufacturing  labor;  in  which  general 
plan,  the  projector  supposes  a  cure  is  to  be  found  for 
the  present  evils  of  pauperism.  I  add  in  my  dis 
patch,  that  whatever  may  be  the  benevolent  inten 
tions  of  Mr.  Owen,  or  the  ingenuity  of  some  of  his 
suggestions,  and  however  successful  the  plan  may 
have  been  upon  his  own  estate  in  Scotland,  where  it 
is  stated  to  have  succeeded,  I  find  that  those  who 
have  examined  it  with  most  care,  and  whose  judg 
ments  are  entitled  to  deference,  are  of  opinion  that  it 
never  can  be  extended  to  the  nation  at  large. 

3.  I  speak  OF  THE  NAVY;  simply  mentioning,  on 
this  occasion,  in  addition  to  accounts  which  I  have 
transmitted  to  President  Monroe  and  to  different 
branches  of  our  government  of  the  improvements 


164  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

steadily  going  on  in  this  grand  arm  of  England's 
strength,  that  six  millions  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds  was  the  sum  appropriated  for  its  service  this 
year ;  and  that  the  number  of  vessels  in  actual  com 
mission  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  twenty- 
four  being  of  the  line,  and  forty-five,  frigates.  For 
THE  ARMY,  I  mention,  that  the  appropriation  for  the 
year,  was  eight  millions  nine  hundred  thousand 
pounds;  its  whole  force,  at  home  and  abroad,  being 
computed  at  one  hundred  and  four  thousand  men. 

4.  I  speak  OF  THE  CURRENCY;  and  the  shape 
which  this  subject  has  assumed  under  the  full  and 
able  report  which  Mr.  Peel,  as  head  of  a  committee 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  made  upon  it.  I  state, 
that  the  paper  system,  which,  amidst  the  shocks  and 
trials  of  war  during  twenty  years,  had  alternately 
upheld  England  by  its  benefits  and  afflicted  her 
with  its  evils,  had  been  finally  condemned  by 
Parliament ;  and  that,  with  a  view  to  the  resump 
tion  of  cash  payments,  both  Houses  came  to  a 
resolution,  that  on  the  first  of  February  1820,  the 
bank  should  be  under  an  obligation  to  deliver  gold 
in  bars  of  not  less  than  sixty  ounces  for  a  propor 
tionate  amount  of  its  notes,  at  four  pounds  one 
shilling  an  ounce  ;  that  on  the  first  of  October  of  the 
same  year,  it  must  make  similar  payments  at  the 
rate  of  £3.  19.  6,  an  ounce ;  and  on  the  first  of 
May,  1821,  make  them  at  the  mint  price  of  £3.  17. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  165 

10,  an  ounce ;  the  last  part  of  the  system  to  continue 
in  operation  not  less  than  two,  nor  more  than  three 
years,  when  the  bank,  in  place  of  bullion  or  bars  for 
its  paper,  is  to  pay  specie.  I  mention  that  various 
and  very  discordant  opinions  were  expressed  in  the 
progress  of  the  discussion  as  to  the  quantity  of  gold 
which  the  country  would  require  to  sustain  the 
resumption  of  cash  payments,  some  estimating  it  as 
high  as  forty-five  millions,  and  some  as  low  as  twenty 
millions ;  and  lastly  I  mention  that  the  resolution  for 
resumption  was  carried  through  both  Houafes  of 
Parliament,  almost  unanimously,  in  the  face  of 
opposition  from  the  bank  of  England,  and  the 
great  body  of  London  merchants  and  bankers. 

5.  I  allude  to  the  CRIMINAL  LAW  ;  saying  that  its 
sanguinary  character  scarcely  found  an  apologist  in 
all  the  discussions  respecting  it ;  and  I  speak  of  the 
enlightened  labors  of  Sir  James  Macintosh  to  lessen 
its  severity,  stating,  that  the  Report  which  he  made 
upon  the  subject,  concludes  with  recommending  the 
abolition  of  a  list  of  capital  felonies  amounting  in 
number  to  between  thirty  and  forty;  which  report 
was  not,  however,  acted  upon. 

6.  I  mention  that  THE  CATHOLICS  preferred  their 
annual  claims  to  be  relieved  from  the  disabilities 
under  which  they  have  so  long  labored,  and  that  the 
discussions  had   been  conducted  with  their  usual 
scope  and  animation;  that  in  the  House  of  Lords, 


166  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

their  cause  was  lost  by  a  majority  of  41 ;  but  that  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  it  came  extremely  near  to 
success,  the  majority  being  but  two  against  it.  I 
add,  that  this  near  approach  to  success  in  the  popu 
lar  branch  of  the  Legislature,  had  filled  this  class  of 
British  subjects  with  new  hope,  and  might  be  ex 
pected  to  impart  to  their  future  efforts,  new  activity. 
In  regard  to  the  number  of  Catholics,  I  mention, 
that,  in  England  alone,  whilst  they  were  computed 
to  have  amounted  to  not  more  than  seventy  thou 
sand  when  the  present  king  ascended  the  throne, 
they  were  now  supposed  to  be  half  a  million  in 
number;  and  that  at  Stoneyhurst,  in  Lancashire, 
where  a  college  of  Jesuits  was  established,  the 
pupils,  including  those  at  a  preparatory  school 
adjoining,  amounted  to  five  hundred. 

7.  I  notice  THE  CORN  LAWS;  this  subject  of  par 
liamentary  inquiry  and  debate,  grown  stale  by 
frequency,  yet  ever  fresh  in  existing  interest;  an 
interest  which  extends  beyond  England,  to  countries 
having  commercial  intercourse  with  her.  I  mention 
that  these  laws  wrere  left,  for  the  present  session, 
upon  the  old  footing  of  allowing  importations  of 
wheat  from  foreign  countries,  as  long  as  the  price 
of  native  wheat  in  England  was  above  eighty  shil 
lings  the  quarter.  Under  this  regulation,  the  ports 
of  England  having  remained  open  to  bread  stuffs  from 
abroad  during  1818,  I  also  mention  that,  by  official 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  167 

returns  to  the  House  of  Commons,  it  was  found  that 
the  total  value  of  all  the  wheat  and  other  grain, 
including  flour,  imported  into  the  kingdom  during 
that  year  from  the  colonial  possessions  of  Great 
Britain  and  from  foreign  countries,  rose  as  high  as 
thirteen  millions  of  pounds  sterling;  a  sum  which 
appeared  to  have  struck  every  body  by  its  large 
amount.  I  added,  that  I  had  no  means  of  ascertain 
ing  accurately  what  portion  of  this  foreign  wheat 
and  flour  came  from  the  United  States. 

8.  EDUCATION.     I  notice  the  report  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  by  which  it  appeared  how  this  great 
work  is  advancing  in  England;  for  that,  whilst  in 
1812,  the  number  of  schools,  under  the  national 
school  system,  was  only  fifty-two,  and  the  pupils 
eight  thousand,  this  report  shows  that  the  former 
had  risen,  in  1818,  to  above  fourteen  hundred,  and 
the  number  of  pupils  to  two  hundred  thousand. 

9.  THE  DUKE  OF  YORK.     I  mention  the  parlia 
mentary  grant  of  ten  thousand  pounds  sterling  a 
year  to  the  Duke  of  York  as  custos  of  the  person  of 
the  king,  under  his  continued  state  of  mental  inca 
pacity;  and  I  speak  of  the  opposition  which  it  en 
countered,  it  being  asked  why  should  a  son,  already 
receiving  an  income  of  more  than  thirty  thousand 
pounds  from  the  nation,  be  thus  additionally  paid 
from  its  purse  for  performing  a  natural  duty  to  a 


168  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

parent?   and  the  measure  having  been  otherwise 
strongly  denounced. 

10.  LORD  CAMDEN.  Acts  of  individual  virtue 
and  disinterestedness,  being  no  less  worthy  to  be  told 
than  those  of  an  opposite  complexion,  I  mention,  that 
the  Marquis  Camden,  (a  title  dear  to  America,) 
weighing  the  distresses  of  portions  of  his  countrymen, 
came  forward  wdth  a  truly  noble  contribution  to  their 
relief.  I  state  that  he  did  this  by  the  voluntary  sur 
render  to  the  public  of  a  salary  of  nine  thousand 
pounds  sterling  a  year,  to  which  he  was  entitled  by 
legal  and  hereditary  claim  as  one  of  the  tellers  of 
the  exchequer,  and  of  which  he  had  long  been  in 
the  enjoyment.  I  add,  that  the  House  of  Commons 
marked  this  example  of  generosity  in  an  individual 
in  full  life  and  moving  in  its  highest  and  most 
expensive  walks,  by  a  vote  of  approbation  which 
places  it  for  ever  upon  their  journals.  Mr.  Tierney 
pronounced  it  a  "  magnificent  donation  to  the  coun 
try,"  and  paid  other  tributes  to  the  noble  donor. 

The  foregoing  is  a  summary  of  the  dispatch ;  and 
after  presenting  under  each  general  head,  the  state 
ments  and  remarks  belonging  to  it,  I  briefly  sub 
joined  other  matter  of  a  public  nature,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  outline. 

I  mentioned  that  the  Parliament  being  a  new  one, 
to  ascertain  the  relative  strength  of  parties  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  seemed  desirable  to  both  sides ; 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  169 

to  which  end,  a  trial  was  made  on  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Tierney,  (the  recognized  leader  of  the  whigs,)  on  the 
state  of  the  nation;  that  this  led  to  a  debate  of  the 
usual  scope  under  such  a  motion,  the  avowed  object 
being  to  obtain  a  vote  of  condemnation  on  the  whole 
course  of  policy  pursued  by  ministers^  whether 
regarding  home  affairs  or  the  foreign  relations ;  and 
that  on  an  unusually  full  attendance  of  the  mem 
bers,  the  ministers  triumphed,  the  vote  in  their  favor 
being  357,  and  against  them,  but  178. 

Regarding  the   affairs  of  Europe  generally,   as 
existing  in  connexion  with  those  of  Britain,  or  bear 
ing  at  all  upon  American  interests,  I  stated,  that  the 
debate,  although  taking  wide  scope,  brought  little  to 
light  that  was  important,  or  that  I  had  not  already 
noticed  in  former  communications  to  the  depart 
ment;   but  I  gave  a  passage  from   Mr.  Tierney 's 
description  of  the  Holy  Alliance.     This  animated 
speaker    said,   "  at  first  it  consisted  of   but  four 
powers;    that  these   four   had   considered  it  their 
duty  to  impose  upon  France  the  yoke  of  maintain 
ing  foreign  armies  upon  her  territory,  to  preserve 
order  within  it,  and  keep  the  reigning  family  upon 
the  throne;  but  that  France  having  conducted  her 
self  to  the  satisfaction  of  her  four  masters,  they  had, 
at  Aix  la  Chapelle,  last  autumn,  determined  not  only 
to  remove  the  yoke,  but  take  her  into  partnership, 

15 


170  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

and  that  she  now  constituted  a  fifth  member  of  the 
firm." 

Giving  this  extract  from  Mr.  Tierney's  speech, 
assailing  the  ministry,  I  deemed  it  right  to  hold  up, 
on  the  other  hand,  (passing  over  Lord  Castlereagh's 
reply  to  the  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,)  the 
declarations  made  by  Lord  Liverpool,  the  Premier, 
in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  21st  of  January,  in 
reference  to  the  Holy  Alliance;  with  which  declara 
tions  my  dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  State  con 
cluded.  They  were,  "that  he,  (Lord  Liverpool,) 
felt  bound  in  conscience  to  affirm,  that,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  there  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  when  so  general  an  anxiety  prevailed  to  pre 
serve  peace ;  when  the  causes  of  disturbance  were  so 
completely  removed;  when  nations  and  sovereigns 
were  more  divested  of  ambition  and  the  love  of 
undue  influence;  and  when  the  spirit  of  concilia 
tion,  and  the  necessity  for  repose,  were  more 
thoroughly  acknowledged,  and  acted  upon  over 
the  whole  European  community." 

Throughout  my  mission,  I  wrote  the  Secretary  of 
State  an  annual  dispatch  after  Parliament  rose,  on  the 
model  of  the  foregoing,  more  or  less  full  according 
to  circumstances ;  in  addition  to  noticing,  from  time 
to  time,  in  weekly  dispatches,  such  of  the  proceed 
ings  of  either  House,  or  speeches  of  individual  or 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  171 

official  members,  as  seemed  appropriate  to  public 
obligations  devolving  upon  me. 

August  6.  Go  to  Deptford,  Greenwich  and  Black- 
heath  ;  my  main  object  being  to  visit  the  naval  ar 
senal  at  Deptford,  in  the  vicinity ;  as  I  did,  fully. 

August  9.  Go  to  the  counting  house  of  Barings, 
Brothers  and  Company,  Bishopsgate  street,  to  draw 
money.  I  am  shown  their  orderly  arrangements  for 
business,  the  daily  routine  of  which  is  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  Holland ;  an  accomplished  merchant, 
agreed  by  all  to  merit  the  confidence  he  enjoys  from 
the  great  firm  with  which  he  is  associated. 

August  19.  Go  to  St.  Paul's,  the  present  season 
allowing  some  few  intervals  for  "  sight-seeing."  One 
of  the  foreign  ministers  told  me  soon  after  my  ar 
rival,  that  he  had  been  eight  years  in  London,  with 
out  seeing  the  inside  of  Westminster  Abbey,  declar 
ing  that  he  had  never  been  able  to  command  the 
time  for- it,  other  engagements  always  stepping  in 
with  prior  claims — if  not  of  business,  of  ceremony, 
which  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  forego. 

August  20.  Devote  the  day  to  visiting  the  London, 
West  India,  and  East  India  Docks.  The  Secretary 
of  Legation  was  with  me.  Instead  of  going  by  land, 


172  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

we  took  a  boat  near  Westminster  bridge,  for  the  sake 
of  going  down  the  Thames.  We  passed  under  the 
other  bridges  that  cross  the  route,  viz.  Waterloo, 
Black-friars,  and  Southwark  bridges;  got  out  at 
London  bridge,  which  you  cannot  safely  shoot  with 
a  flowing  tide,  and  took  a  fresh  boat  on  the  other 
side.  This  brought  under  our  view,  all  the  ship 
ping,  boats,  and  craft  of  every  description,  moving 
about  the  river,  or  stationary  on  its  surface ;  and  the 
whole  river  population  and  scene.  It  was  an  im 
mense  panorama.  We  had  the  Tower  before  us — 
that  remnant  of  a  feudal  age,  going  back  a  thousand 
years,  but  now  shorn  of  importance  amidst  the  vast 
appearances  of  a  commercial  age.  Below  London 
bridge,  there  was,  for  miles,  a  black  forest  of  masts 
and  spars.  Most  of  the  ships  were  at  anchor,  in  solid 
tiers,  in  the  stream,  with  lighters  at  hand  to  put  in 
and  take  out  cargoes ;  and  thousands  deemed  to  be  at 
that  work.  What  struck  me  most,  was  the  coal  ships. 
There  was  no  counting  them.  In  some  parts  they 
seemed  to  choke  up  the  river;  and,  although  only 
coasters,  were  stout,  heavy,  black  looking  vessels — 
square-rigged — most  of  them  large.  These  vessels, 
of  themselves,  bespoke  the  preponderance  of  the 
home  trade  of  London  over  the  foreign  trade,  great 
as  were  signs  of  the  latter.  Ships  loaded  with  tim 
ber,  seemed  to  come  next  in  number.  There  was 
a  Thames  police  ship,  where  the  river  magistrates 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  173 

performed  their  duty.  There  was  the  hulk  of  an 
other  ship,  fitted  up  as  a  church  for  seamen.  We 
passed  docks  for  building,  and  dry-docks  for  repair 
ing  merchant  vessels.  One  of  the  latter  was  of  odd 
construction.  It  was  the  hulk  of  an  old  Dutch  ship 
of  the  line,  half  sunk  near  the  shore  on  the  Surry 
side,  and  in  that  manner  converted  into  a  dry-dock, 
in  which  a  vessel  was  undergoing  repairs.  Some 
times  you  passed  the  decayed  remains  of  old  men  of 
war,  which  seemed  to  tell  you  of  battles  and  storms 
in  other  ages.  Some  were  in  decay,  though  not  old. 
This  was  the  case  with  a  large  frigate  built  of  fir,  in 
1813,  to  match,  so  it  was  said,  the  American  frigates. 
Getting  lower  down  the  stream,  straggling  ships  of 
war  were  seen  lying  in  ordinary ;  one  had  a  plank 
stripped  off  from  stem  to  stern  near  the  water's  edge, 
to  let  in  air  to  prevent  rot.  But  I  never  should 
finish  if  I  glanced  at  only  a  tithe  of  the  multitude  of 
things  to  strike  the  eye  of  a  stranger.  The  scene 
occupied  me  more  than  the  docks,  which  I  had  set 
out  expressly  to  visit.  The  docks,  indeed  with  all 
that  they  contain,  present  imposing  images  of  com 
mercial  power;  but  to  pass  in  review  that  portion  ot 
London  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Thames  from 
Westminster  bridge  to  the  docks,  with  its  piles  ot 
buildings,  its  spires,  its  domes,  its  monuments,  its 
manufacturing  establishments,  and  other  works  and 
edifices;  taking  in  also  the  solid  bridges,  packed  with 


174  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

human  crowds  incessantly  moving,  with  the  immen 
sity  of  shipping  after  you  reach  London  bridge,  and 
all  else  arresting  attention  on  the  river  and  on  both 
shores, — is  to  behold  tokens  of  every  other  kind  of 
power.  You  behold  industry  and  art  under  a  thou 
sand  forms ;  you  behold  the  accumulated  capital  of 
ages,  all  in  activity ;  all  teeming  with  present  results. 
You  behold,  in  every  direction,  signs  of  national 
energy,  enterprise  and  opulence ;  much  of  it,  as  if 
just  bursting  out.  Such  to  me,  was  the  real  scene 
of  yesterday,  keeping  this  side  of  all  exaggeration. 
It  was  said  by  one  of  the  Popes  a  century  ago,  that 
if  the  treasury  of  Augustus  had  been  put  up  to 
sale,  London  could  have  bought  it — a  strong  figure 
of  speech ;  but  what  are  not  its  riches  now,  increas 
ing  as  they  have  been  ever  since,  under  new  sources 
of  trade  and  industry ;  and  more  of  late  years  than 
ever  ?  New  buildings,  new  bridges,  and  other  new 
improvements  in  all  ways,  attest  the  extent  of  its 
modern,  arid  daily  increasing  prosperity  and  wealth. 
I  need  not  go  into  detail  about  the  docks.  Like 
the  river,  they  were  filled  with  vessels,  except  the 
East  India  docks.  These  had  comparatively  few; 
but  they  were  large,  and,  at  a  distance,  looked  like 
frigates.  The  London  docks  can  receive,  it  is  said, 
five  hundred  merchantmen;  as  many,  if  not  a  greater 
number,  are  accommodated  in  the  export  and  import 
West  India  docks. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  175 

I  close  this  brief  notice  of  the  scene  on  the 
Thames,  by  mentioning,  that  a  London  merchant, 
likely  to  be  well  informed,  with  whom  I  was  after 
ward,  talking  about  it,  said,  that  upwards  of  eight 
millions  sterling  had  been  expended,  since  1800,  on 
docks,  bridges,  custom-house  buildings,  walls,  and 
other  establishments  connected  with  the  port  and 
commerce  of  this  great  city. 

It  may  be  added,  that  since  the  epoch  to  which 
the  foregoing  notice  refers,  St.  Katherine's  dock,  the 
largest  of  all  the  commercial  docks,  has  been  con 
structed  at  an  expense  of  two  millions  of  pounds 
sterling;  and  that  the  Thames  tunnel  has  also  been 
constructed,  which,  in  some  respects,  may  be  con 
sidered  as  the  greatest  of  all  the  public  works 
connected  with  the  river.  It  was  the  man  whom 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
pronounced  "the  soldier,  the  sailor,  the  historian, 
the  poet,  and  the  statesman;"  it  was  that  man,  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  who  said,  that  "whosoever  com 
mands  the  sea,  commands  the  trade  of  the  world; 
whosoever  commands  the  trade  of  the  world,  com 
mands  the  riches  of  the  world,  and  consequently 
the  world  itself."  England  does  not  forget  this; 
and  whoever  will  descend  the  Thames,  even  from 
London  bridge  to  the  commercial  docks,  and  keep 
looking  all  around,  and,  when  at  the  latter,  see  also 
the  immense  ware-housing  system  in  full  and  sue- 


176  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

cessful  operation,  with  the  many  other  facilities  and 
sources  of  a  vast  commerce  from  this  great  metro 
politan  city  of  England,  without  considering  her 
other  ports,  may  mark  how  steadily  she  moves  for 
ward  on  the  road,  which  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  so 
epigrammatically  pointed  out  two  centuries  ago. 
And  it  is  remarkable,  that  her  advance  in  commer 
cial  power  goes  on  at  an  even  pace  with  predictions 
from  the  writers  of  other  countries  and  her  own,  that 
her  ruin  or  decay  is  fast  approaching.  The  predic 
tions  began  at  least  as  long  ago  as  Queen  Anne's 
time,  with  her  own  Davenant,  who  made  them  in 
very  confident  terms. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  177 


CHAPTER  XL 


ENTERTAINMENT    AT     THE    FRENCH    AMBASSADOR5! 

THE  FLORIDA  TREATY.  BREWERY  OF  TRUEMAN, 
HANBURY  AND  COMPANY.  DINNER  AT  LORD  CASTLE- 
REAGH'S,  NORTH  CRAY — AMERICAN  FLYING  SQUIR 
RELS  AND  HUMMING  BIRDS ANECDOTE  OF  THE 

PERSIAN  AMBASSADOR.  INTERVIEW  WITH  LORD 
CASTLEREAGH  ON  THE  WEST  INDIA  TRADE  AND 
OTHER  SUBJECTS.  MR.  STRATFORD  CANNING  AP 
POINTED  MINISTER  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES.  DIN 
NER  AT  MR.  LYTTLETON'S. 

August  26.  Last  evening  the  French  ambassador 
celebrated  the  birth  day  of  his  sovereign  by  an 
entertainment.  The  Duke  and  Dutchess  of  Kent, 
Lord  Castlereagh  and  other  cabinet  ministers,  the 
diplomatic  corps,  and  other  company  were  present. 

Again  I  had  opportunities  of  informally  convers 
ing  with  Lord  Castlereagh.  Salutations  over,  I  be 
gan  conversation  with  him  by  alluding  to  the  strong 
rumors  I  had  heard  in  the  diplomatic  circle,  of  Mr. 
Bagot  being  about  to  succeed  Lord  Cathcart  as 


178  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg!!.  I  then  asked,  if  lie 
would  put  it  in  my  power  to  announce  to  my  govern 
ment,  who  was  likely  to  take  Mr.  Bagot's  place  at 
Washington  ? 

His  lordship  replied,  that  Mr.  Bagot's  appoint 
ment  to  Russia,  although  not  yet  publicly  made 
known,  was,  he  believed,  a  measure  determined  upon 
by  the  Prince  Regent.  He  had  the  more  pleasure 
in  saying  so  to  me,  because  he  felt  that  it  would  be 
taken  as  a  new  proof  of  the  importance  attached  to 
the  American  mission,  when  faithful  services  in  it 
became  the  passport  to  an  ambassador's  post  at  so 
leading  a  court  in  Europe ;  that  as  to  Mr.  Bagot's 
successor  in  the  British  mission  at  Washington,  one 
had  not  yet  been  named ;  they  felt  an  anxious  desire 
that  the  choice  should  fall  upon  a  person  endowed 
with  every  suitable  qualification,  and  as  soon  as  it 
was  made,  he  would  inform  me  of  it. 

This  topic  ended,  "No  ratification  of  our  treaty, 
yet,  my  lord?"  was  my  next  remark.  "  So  it  appears," 
was  his  reply ;  "  but  I  hope  you  are  well  convinced, 
that  the  ratification  does  not  linger  through  our 
means?" 

I  answered,  "certainly,  after  what  your  lordship 
said  to  me  at  Carlton  House,  and  Prince  Esterhazy's, 
I  feel  entirely  convinced  that  it  does  not;  and  I  have 
had  great  pleasure  in  communicating  to  the  Presi 
dent  what  fell  from  you  on  both  occasions." 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  179 

"  I  will  say  more,"  he  continued.  "  As  far  as  we 
have  given  expression  to  any  opinion  or  wish  to 
Spain,  it  has  been  the  other  way ;  it  has  been  that 
the  treaty  may  be  ratified" 

"  This  then,  I  rejoined,  "  is  a  communication 
which  I  shall  make  to  my  government  with  increas 
ed  satisfaction." 

"  Let  me  deal  candidly,"  he  proceeded.  "It  can 
little  be  supposed,  were  it  an  open  question,  that 
we  would  not  prefer  that  Spain  should  own  the 
Floridas,  to  their  falling  into  your  hands.  She  is 
weak;  you  are  strong ;  but  the  treaty  has  been  made, 
and  we  prefer  its  ratification  to  the  possibility  of  any 
serious  disturbance  to  the  pacific  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain.  These  we  are  sin 
cerely  desirous  to  see  maintained,  from  the  pro 
pitious  influence  it  will  continue  to  shed  upon  the 
general  repose  of  the  world."  I  said  I  was  sure  my 
government  would  hear  with  great  satisfaction  the 
expression  of  such  sentiments. 

Pursuing  the  subject  he  remarked,  that  whenever 
it  appeared  to  this  government  that  the  United 
States  were  really  manifesting  a  spirit  of  encroach 
ment  at  which  other  nations  might  justifiably  take 
exception,  it  might  perhaps  feel  itself  called  upon  to 
utter  other  opinions;  but  he  did  not  think  the  pre 
sent  case  open  to  such  views.  I  again  rejoined  how 
happy  I  was  to  hear  him  express  himself  in  this 


180  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

manner  in  relation  to  the  Florida  treaty,  and  agreed 
that  principles  of  moderation  were  those  by  which  it 
would  be  best  for  all  nations  to  steer. 

The  United  States  manifesting  a  spirit  of  en 
croachment  !  England  to  think  this !  England 
whose  empire  encircles  the  globe !  But  it  was  not 
for  me  to  reason  with  the  sentiment  as  it  then  fell 
from  Lord  Castlereagh.  It  was  neither  the  occasion 
nor  place.  Had  England  intervened,  to  frustrate  or 
retard  the  ratification  of  our  treaty,  the  United  States 
would  have  had  ground  of  complaint;  but  as  she 
was  doing  the  reverse,  the  moment  would  have  been 
ill-chosen  for  commenting  upon  her  own  boundless 
dominion  and  power.  We  had  no  claim  of  right 
to  the  good  offices,  or  even  good  wishes,  of  England 
towards  hastening  the  ratification.  Neutrality,  was 
all  we  had  the  right  to  ask.  The  voluntary  inter 
position  of  her  good  wishes,  whatever  the  motive, 
was  to  be  well  received;  and  I  hold  it  to  have  been 
another  instance  of  the  wisdom  of  the  foreign  Secre 
tary  who  then  so  largely  swayed  her  foreign  coun 
sels  ;  nor  did  I  allow  a  day  to  pass  without  transmit 
ting  what  he  said  on  this  occasion,  to  the  Secretary 
of  State. 

August  29.  Mr.  Lowndes  and  Washington  Irving, 
two  of  our  countrymen,  dine  with  us ;  the  former 
a  prominent  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  181 

from  South  Carolina,  the  latter  distinguished  by  his 
literary  talents.  The  conversation  was  of  the  United 
States  and  England,  Mr.  Lowndes  having  lately 
arrived.  From  both,  there  was  a  flow  of  patriotism, 
mingled  with  liberal  feelings  towards  England. 

September  3.  Mr.  *******  who  is  closely  con 
nected  with  some  of  the  cabinet,  informs  me  that  a 
British  squadron  consisting  of  two  seventy-fours  and 
two  frigates,  is  in  active  preparation  at  Plymouth, 
whence,  it  is  expected  to  sail  very  shortly  for  the 
south  seas,  and  that  Sir  Thomas  Hardy  is  to  com 
mand  it.  He  says  that  it  was  destined  for  this 
service  in  consequence  of  the  operations  of  Lord 
Cochrane's  ships  in  those  seas,  and  the  decree  of 
Bernardo  O'Higgins,  Supreme  Director  of  Chili, 
of  the  20th  of  April  last,  relating  to  blockade,  which 
has  laid  the  foundation  for  some  of  Lord  Cochrane's 
proceedings.  *******  said,  that  the  British  squa 
dron  would  be  there  to  watch  events,  not  intending 
to  let  Lord  Cochrane  have  sole  command  in  the 
Pacific. 

September  5.  Mr.  Irving  dines  with  us,  to  our 
renewed  pleasure.  His  social  benevolence  is  equal 
to  his  talents  and  good  humor.  He  speaks  ill  of  no 
one,  so  that  the  poet's  line  "  the  tongue  which,  where 
it  could  not  praise,  was  mute,"  might  describe  him. 

16 


182  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

September  7.  Write  to  Mr.  Forsyth,  informing 
him  that  since  my  letter  of  the  24th  of  July,  trans 
mitted  through  Mr.  Gallatin,  I  have  assurances  from 
Lord  Castlereagh,  that  England  not  only  takes  no 
steps  to  defeat  our  treaty  with  Spain,  but  desires  and 
seeks  to  promote  its  ratification.  I  especially  give 
him  the  information,  as,  by  a  letter  from  him,  I  find 
that  he  labors  under  opposite  suspicions  very 
strongly,  not  having  received  my  former  letter. 

September  9.  Visit  the  brewery  of  Truman  Han- 
bury  and  company.  Young  Mr.  Hanbury  con 
ducted  us  through  it.  I  will  note  a  few  things. 

I  asked  if  they  ever  got  hops  from  the  United 
States.  The  answer  was,  only  in  years  when  the 
crop  was  short  in  England,  the  duty  upon  our  hops 
being  so  high  as  to  amount  to  prohibition.  The 
price  in  England  for  their  own  hops  was  stated  to 
be,  three  pounds  per  hundred  weight ;  this  was  in 
good  seasons;  last  year  being  a  very  bad  one, 
the  price  rose  greatly  higher.  This  had  brought 
American  hops  into  demand,  the  quality  of  which 
was  better  for  brewing  than  the  English ;  but  it  was 
said  that  they  were  injured  for  the  English  market 
by  being  dried,  as  was  supposed,  with  pine  wood, 
this  being  the  only  way  in  which  a  bad  flavor 
imparted  to  them,  could  be  accounted  for.  We 
were  told  that  there  had  been  brewed  at  the  brewery 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  183 

last  year,  two  hundred  and  ten  thousand  barrels  of 
beer,  each  containing  thirty-six  gallons.  The  whole 
was  performed  by  a  steam  engine,  equal  to  a  twenty- 
six  horse  power.  There  were  eighty  vats,  and  three 
boilers. 

We  understood  that  the  whole  cost  of  the  estab 
lishment,  including  the  building,  machinery  imple 
ments,  horses,  and  every  thing  else,  together  with 
the  capital  necessary  to  put  the  brewery  into  opera 
tion,  was  upwards  of  four  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
And  was  this  investment  necessary  before  beginning 
the  business  I  asked?  The  answer  was — yes,  on 
the  scale  that  I  saw. 

The  stable  was  scarcely  the  least  curious  part  of 
the  establishment.  Ninety  horses  of  the  largest 
breed  were  employed,  not  as  large  as  elephants  it  is 
true,  but  making  one  think  of  them ;  and  all  as  fat 
as  possible.  Their  food  was  a  peck  and  a  half  of 
oats  a  day,  with  mangers  always  kept  full  of  clover 
hay  and  cut  straw,  chopped  up  together  with  a 
machine,  and  hay  in  their  racks  throughout  the 

tt.     It  was  among  the  largest  breweries  in  Lon- 
,  but  not  the  largest,  Barclay's,  established  by  an 
American,  taking  the  lead. 

After  going  through  it  all  under  the  good  auspices 
of  Mr.  Hanbury,  who  hospitably  gave  us  a  colla 
tion,  we  went  to  Spital-fiekls.  There,  through  like 
obliging  attentions  from  Mr.  Hale,  an  eminent  manu- 


184  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

facturer,  we  saw,  in  several  of  the  houses  and  work 
shops,  the  whole  process  of  weaving  silk,  satin,  and 
velvets. 

September  12.  Dined  with  Lord  Castlereagh 
yesterday  at  his  country  seat,  North  Cray,  where 
he  goes  occasionally  to  pass  a  few  days  at  this  season 
of  relative  rest  to  cabinet  ministers,  being  the  begin 
ning  of  the  shooting  season.  It  was  a  dinner  given 
to  a  portion  of  the  diplomatic  corps  and  their  ladies ; 
we  had  also  Mr.  Planta  and  Lord  Ancram,  and  were 
invited  at  six  o'clock.  This  was  early  for  England, 
and  may  have  been  to  afford  opportunity  for  taking 
a  turn  before  dinner  along  the  sweet  briar  walk, 
alluded  to  in  Chapter  XVIII.  of  the  former  volume; 
but,  if  so,  unhappily,  we  lost  that  chance !  An  acci 
dent  to  my  carriage  obliged  us  to  stop  on  the  road, 
and  the  consequence  was,  that,  although  the  speed 
of  the  horses  was  increased  after  repairing  the  acci 
dent,  we  arrived  after  our  time.  The  fifteen  minutes 
usually  allowed  at  English  dinners,  had  far  more 
than  run  out.  As  we  drove  up,  we  saw  the 
servants  had  all  left  the  hall,  and  we  feared  the 
company  had  gone  to  dinner.  Entering  the  drawing 
room,  we  found  this  not  quite  the  case,  but  they 
were  on  the  eve  of  going,  and  we  had  been  waited 
for.  As  I  advanced  to  Lord  Castlereagh  to  make 
the  explanation,  he  at  once  put  all  apology  aside  by 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  185 

saying,  playfully,  "  Never  mind — it  is  all  as  it  should 
be — America  being  furthest  off,  you  were  entitled  to 
more  time  in  coming."  This  relieved  us;  and  our 
associates  of  the  corps  who  were  standing  by,  all 
heard  the  ingenious  excuse  which  the  good  breeding 
of  our  host  suggested  for  our  late  arrival ! 

I  remember  nothing  better  in  this  way,  than  an 
anecdote  told  of  the  Lord  Leicester  who  built  Hoik- 
ham  House.  One  of  his  dinner  guests  on  entering  the 
room  where  the  others  were  assembled,  unluckily 
struck  a  barometer  hanging  near  the  door.  It  fell 
down,  breaking  the  glass,  and  scattering  the  mercury 
all  over  the  floor ;  on  which  his  lordship  congratu 
lated  his  company  on  the  certainty  of  a  change  of 
weather,  then  much  wanted,  remarking  that  he  had 
never  seen  the  mercury  in  his  barometer  so  low. 
Happy  thought !  but  did  not  Lord  Castlereagh  meet 
the  occasion  as  well  in  what  he  said  to  me  ? 

We  went  to  dinner  a  minute  or  two  after  our  arri 
val,  one  of  the  ambassadors,  Baron  Fagel,  taking 
Lady  Castlereagh  on  his  arm,  and  my  wife  going  in 
with  Lord  Castlereagh.  Two  pet  dogs  had  the  run 
of  the  rooms,  Venom  and  Fury — in  name  only,  not 
conduct. 

If  I  came  too  late  to  go  to  the  menagerie  before 
dinner,  its  inmates  were  not  forgotten  at  table.  Lady 
Castlereagh  said  that  she  had  now  two  of  my  country 
men  in  her  collection,  a  mocking  bird,  and  a  flying 


186  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

squirrel ;  but  trie  bird,  vexed  perhaps  at  being  stolen 
from  its  native  woods,  would  neither  mock  any  thing, 
nor  sing  a  note  of  its  own ;  and  as  to  the  squirrel, 
none  of  her  efforts  had  been  able  to  make  it  fly ; 
still,  there  was  one  other  thing  she  wanted  from  the 
United  States — a  humming  bird,  having  never  seen 
one.  I  said  it  would  make  me  most  happy  to  pro 
cure  one  for  her  if  possible.  Thank  you,  she  said, 
but  will  it  hum  in  England?  I  said  I  would  disown 
it  as  a  countryman,  if  it  did  not.  Hereupon  I  was 
questioned  as  to  the  habits  of  this  little  frequenter  of 
our  arbors  and  porticos,  where  honey-suckles  hang; 
but  had  to  confess  my  shallow  knowledge  on  this 
item  of  American  natural  history;  on  which  her 
ladyship  hinted  that  I  was  holding  back,  for  the 
honor  of  the  humming  bird,  not  wishing  to  promise 
too  much  beforehand,  lest  it  should  refuse  to  hum 
when  it  got  to  North  Cray,  and  so  turn  out  no  better 
than  the  mocking  bird  and  flying  squirrel! 

Lord  Castlereagh  seemed  quite  disposed  to  indulge 
in  a  similar  vein ;  as  if  invited  to  it  by  the  rural  and 
quiet  scenes  around  him — in  such  contrast  to  his 
daily  battles  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  told 
anecdotes  of  the  last  Westminster  election,  and  con 
firmed  what  is  said  in  Chapter  XVI.  of  the  former 
volume,  of  his  escape  from  the  mob,  with  additional 
and  diverting  particulars,  narrated  with  a  familiarity 
that  could  mingle  with  his  bland  dignity  when 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  187 

among  the  foreign  ministers,  without  overstepping  it. 
We  had  personal  anecdotes  from  him  also  of  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe.  One  or  two  had  reference  to 
the  Emperor  of  Austria's  fondness  for  hunting  wild 
boars,  and  his  success  in  that  sport.  His  guests  fell 
in  with  his  own  vein,  and  none  seconded  it  better 
than  Mr.  Planta;  a  gentleman  of  native  urbanity 
and  long  enjoying  all  advantages  of  society. 

We  had  one  anecdote  relished  above  all  the  rest. 
I  need  have  the  less  scruple  in  telling  it,  as  it  may 
be  inferred  that  the  distinguished  personage  to  whom 
it  relates,  would  himself  have  had  no  objection  to  its 
publicity.  It  was  mentioned,  that  two  of  the  ser 
vants  of  the  Persian  ambassador  having  offended 
him  lately  in  London,  he  applied  to  the  British 
government  for  permission  to  cut  off  their  heads. 
On  learning  that  it  could  not  be  granted,  he  gravely 
remonstrated !  In  the  sequel,  he  was  ill  able  to 
comprehend  how  the  lawrs  of  England  could  deny 
his  request.  Finding  however  that  his  hands  w^ere 
tied  up,  he  told  his  servants,  "it  was  all  one;  they 
must  consider  their  heads  as  being  off,  for  off  they 
would  come  when  he  got  them  back  to  Persia!" 

In  this  manner  the  dinner  moved  on.  I  give  little 
specimens  only,  ill-told  apart  from  their  oral  spirit. 
We  left  the  table  at  nine  o'clock,  and  were  an  hour 
in  the  drawing  room  afterwards.  Here  Mr.  Planta 
mentioned  to  a  little  knot  of  us,  that  Lord  Castle- 


188  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

reagh  had  once  crossed  with  Lady  Castlereagh  from 
Ireland  to  Scotland  in  an  open  row  boat — a  distance 
of  twenty-five  miles.  It  was  thought  something  of 
an  adventure. 

With  the  cup  of  delicious  Mocha  coffee  in  our 
hands,  I  had  conversation  with  the  Saxon  minister 
Baron  Just;  and  I  must  here  mention,  having  omit 
ted  a  note  of  it  under  its  date,  that  this  experienced 
member  of  the  corps  paid  me  a  visit  in  the  spring  or 
summer,  to  talk  about  our  intended  recognition  of 
Buenos  Ayres.  He  said  that  he  would  not  conceal 
his  wish  on  that  subject,  having  received  a  dispatch 
from  his  court  in  which  it  was  stated  that  I  had 
made  some  communication  to  Lord  Castlereagh  in 
relation  to  it  in  the  winter.  The  precise  nature  of 
my  communication,  his  court  did  not  know;  and  it 
was  thence  his  desire  to  learn  it  through  me,  as  he 
had  no  claim  to  seek  it  through  Lord  Castlereagh. 
I  frankly  told  him  all,  for  which  he  thanked  me; 
and  it  struck  me  as  curious,  that  an  official  commu 
nication  which  I  had  made  to  the  Foreign  Secretary 
of  England  respecting  a  measure  of  foreign  policy 
contemplated  by  the  United  States,  should  have 
passed  from  cabinet  to  cabinet  in  Europe,  or  from 
one  ambassador  to  another,  until,  somehow  or  other, 
for  it  was  not  said  exactly  howT,  it  reached  the  ears 
of  the  King  of  Saxony;  whose  plenipotentiary  in 
London  thus  hears  it,  for  the  first  time,  by  way  of 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  189 

Dresden !  Had  the  movements  of  the  United  States 
become  so  important  with  Europe?  or,  were  its 
smaller  courts,  like  Saxony,  the  more  prone  to  poli 
tical  curiosity,  from  being  able  to  do  nothing  im 
portant  themselves  since  the  Holy  Alliance  exist 
ed  ?  (When  could  the  smaller  courts  ever  do  any 
thing  important  ?)  Be  these  things  as  they  may,  the 
veteran  diplomat  thanked  me  again  this  evening  for 
having  put  it  in  his  power  to  enlighten  his  court  on 
this  intended  step  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  respecting  Buenos  Ay  res. 

In  a  few  brief  words  with  Lord  Castlereagh,  I 
touched  upon  the  non-ratification  of  our  Florida 
treaty.  .  He  again  merely  said,  his  other  guests 
dividing  his  attention,  that  he  wished  it  had  been 
otherwise,  adding  that  he  was  led  to  infer  from  the 
communications  of  Sir  Henry  Wellesley,  their  am 
bassador  at  Madrid,  that  the  refusal  of  Spain  was  not 
absolute,  but  that  she  only  waited  for  some  further 
explanations. 

Before  corrn'ng  away,  I  asked  it  as  a  favor,  that  he 
would  name  as  early  a  day  as  his  convenience  would 
allow,  for  letting  me  know  the  views  of  his  govern 
ment  on  the  renewed  proposals  I  had  submitted 
to  him  in  June,  on  the  West  India  trade;  on  which 
he  appointed  the  sixteenth  instant,  requesting  I 
would  call  on  him  at  his  residence,  St.  James's 
Square. 


190  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

It  was  now  ten  o'clock.  Our  carriages  were  all 
in  waiting,  the  night  was  fine,  the  road  good,  and  we 
got  back  to  town  at  midnight  from  this  agreeable 
dinner  party ;  a  delightful  form  of  society,  of  which 
the  English  are  chiefly  fond,  and  all  the  unwritten 
arcana  of  which  they  understand;  a  form  of  society 
where  restraint  and  ease  go  hand  in  hand,  to  unite 
the  pleasures  of  conversation,  in  its  lighter  spheres, 
with  the  rational  enjoyments  of  the  table,  heighten 
ing  and  refining  both ;  and  where,  as  the  condition 
of  the  conversation  being  general,  there  must  be  a 
disciplined  forbearance,  under  the  golden  requisition 
of  which  none  talk  too  much.  This,  indeed,  points 
to  a  high  state  of  manners;  and  what  training  to 
produce  it !  How  often  have  the  young  and  unprac 
tised  held  back  on  such  occasions,  where  all  are  lis 
tening  while  only  one  speaks,  lest  they  should  fail  in 
the  apt  thought  and  proper  expression  of  it!  Yet 
these  are  the  sensibilities,  this  the  kind  of  culture, 
out  of  which  such  society  grows,  until  at  last,  as  the 
effect  of  both,  it  becomes  an  unrestrained  and  natural 
scene,  where  there  is  no  jarring,  blended  with  one  of 
intellectual  accomplishments  and  grace ;  a  scene,  not 
for  conflict  of  minds,  but  for  easy  colloquy  and  re 
ciprocal  pleasure ;  where  the  strife  is  that  of  conces 
sion,  if  there  be  any  strife;  where  some  minds,  to  be 
sure,  will  be  superior  to. others,  some  able  to  sparkle 
and  others  not,  but  none  struggling  for  mastery,  or 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  191 

breathing  a  contentious  spirit.  To  reconcile  with 
all  these  restraints,  mental  enjoyments  in  a  sphere 
peculiarly  its  own  and  eminently  delightful,  is  the 
end  aimed  at,  and  such  are  the  characteristics  of 
dinner  parties  in  England  in  their  enlightened  and 
polished  circles. 

There  is  a  charm  in  such  society  for  all  nations. 
Its  standard,  is  of  intrinsic  worth  and  beauty.  The 
educated  and  accomplished  every  where,  appreciate 
its  meliorating  influences;  rich  and  flourishing  re 
publics,  have  the  elements  of  it;  and  it  raises  the 
moral  tone  of  conduct  in  other  spheres,  by  the 
restraints  it  imposes  upon  the  temper  and  feelings. 
It  serves  to  lay  a  curb  upon  both,  on  the  important 
occasions  of  life,  such  as  that  which  is  seen  in  the 
intercourse  of  refined  social  life. 

September  16.  The  scene  changes.  It  is  no 
longer  the  tranquil  hospitality  of  North  Cray.  Lord 
Castlereagh  and  his  guest  of  last  Thursday,  meet 
to-day  by  appointment,  to  discuss  matters  of  inter 
national  concern;  in  the  spirit  indeed  in  which  his 
lordship  discusses  and  transacts  all  public  business 
— that  of  courtesy;  but  when,  like  his  guest,  he  has 
important  interests  of  his  country  in  charge,  which 
guest  and  host  are  primarily  bound  to  look  to, 
neither  giving  way  to  the  other  but  as  public  duty 
may  dictate. 


192  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

His  lordship  began  the  interview  by  taking  from 
his  table  the  proposals  I  had  submitted  to  him 
respecting  the  West  India  trade  on  the  13th  of  June. 
He  premised,  that  it  would  be  more  convenient 
perhaps  to  answer  them  as  the  British  articles  sub 
mitted  through  my  predecessor  in  London  in  1817, 
had  been  answered;  namely,  without  any  formal 
written  communication,  but  simply  in  conversation 
with  me.  I  said  that  the  form  of  the  answer  would, 
I  was  sure,  make  no  difference  with  my  govern 
ment  ;  its  communication  in  any  mode,  would  do. 

He  proceeded  to  inform  me  that  our  proposals  were 
not  of  a  nature  to  form  the  basis  of  an  agreement 
between  the  two  countries  for  the  regulation  of  this 
trade;  they  would  effect,  if  adopted,  an  entire  sub 
version  of  the  British  colonial  system ;  from  which 
system  they  were  not  prepared  to  depart.  Their 
colonies  were,  in  many  respects,  burdensome  he 
said,  and  even  liable  to  involve  the  parent  state  in 
wars.  Garrisons  and  other  establishments  were 
constantly  maintained  in  them,  at  heavy  expense. 
In  return,  it  was  no  more  than  just  that  they  should 
be  brought  under  regulations,  the  operation  of  which 
would  help  to  meet  in  part  the  expenses  which  they 
created.  The  great  principle  of  these  regulations 
was  known  to  be,  the  reservation  of  an  exclusive 
right  in  the  governing  power  to  the  benefit  of  the 
trade  of  the  colonies,  a  principle  relaxed  it  was  true 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  193 

by  the  Free  Port  acts ;  but  it  had  never  been  the 
intention  of  his  Majesty's  government  to  do  any 
thing  more  than  make  us  the  offer  of  a  participation 
in  those  acts.  Some  modifications  of  them  would 
have  been  acquiesced  in,  suggested  by  local  causes, 
and  an  anxious  desire  that  our  two  countries  might 
come  to  an  understanding  on  this  part  of  their  com 
mercial  intercourse;  but  our  proposals  went  the 
length  of  breaking  down  the  system  entirely,  and 
could  not  therefore  be  accepted.  Such  were  his 
remarks. 

I  said,  that  to  break  down  the  system  was  no  part 
of  our  aim.  All  we  desired  was,  that  the  trade,  as 
far  as  opened  to  us  at  all,  should  be  opened  to  the 
vessels  of  both  nations  upon  terms  that  were  equal. 
If  the  system  fell  under  such  an  arrangement,  it  was 
as  an  incident,  and  only  served  to  show  how  diffi 
cult  it  seemed  to  render  its  longer  continuance  con 
sistent  with  a  fair  measure  of  commercial  justice 
towards  the  United  States. 

His  lordship's  rejection  of  our  proposals  was  so 
broad  and  decided,  that  it  appeared  at  first  almost 
superfluous  to  ask  him  to  be  more  particular ;  yet, 
on  my  wish,  he  went  on  to  assign  reasons. 

The  first  objection  then  he  said  to  our  proposals 
was,  that  we  asked  a  specification  of  all  the  ports  in 
the  West  Indies  to  which  we  desired  the  privilege  of 
admission. 

17 


194  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

We  had  asked,  secondly,  that  the  trade  between 
the  United  States  and  the  British  colonies  on  the 
continent  of  North  America,  and  with  Bermuda, 
should  be  confined  within  the  same  limits,  as  the 
trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
"West  Indies,  carried  on  in  the  direct  path. 

And,  in  the  third  place,  we  had  asked  that  the 
duties  on  articles  imported  from  the  United  States 
into  the  British  West  India  Islands  in  American 
vessels,  should  be  no  higher  than  on  the  same  arti 
cles  when  imported  from  the  United  States  in 
British  vessels,  or  when  imported  from,  any  other 
country,  without  saying  any  other  foreign  country. 

These  three  points,  especially  the  third  and  second, 
formed,  he  said,  insurmountable  obstacles  to  any 
convention  or  arrangement  with  the  United  States, 
purporting  to  embrace  them. 

In  reply  I  remarked,  that,  as  to  the  first  objection, 
it  was  plain,  that  if  the  ports  were  not  specifically 
named,  the  privilege  of  admission  to  them  might  at 
any  time  be  recalled  when  Great  Britain  thought  fit 
to  exclude  from  them  any  other  foreign  vessels;  it 
would  be  a  privilege  with  nothing  certain ;  vessels 
of  the  United  States  beginning  a  lawful  voyage, 
might  find  it  unlawful  before  it  ended.  As  to  the 
second  objection  I  said,  that  should  an  indirect  trade 
be  opened  with  the  Islands  in  any  greater  extent 
than  the  direct  trade,  nothing  appeared  more  obvious 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  195 

than  that  the  greater  part  or  whole  would  soon  flow 
in  the  channel  of  the  former,  to  the  manifest  disad 
vantage  of  America,  and  preference  of  British  ves 
sels. 

The  stress,  I  admitted,  was  on  the  third  objection ; 
and  as  to  that,  an  explanatory  remark  or  two  was  all 
that  I  would  add  to  what  we  had  urged  heretofore. 
That  the  United  States  should  ask,  or  expect  to  cut 
Britain  off  from  exercising  her  undoubted  right  of 
protecting  the  industry  of  her  own  subjects  in  any 
part  of  her  dominions  by  establishing  discriminating 
duties  in  their  favor,  might  be  thought  at  first  blush, 
altogether  indefensible;  but,  on  examination,  we 
believed  it  would  be  found  otherwise  under  all  the 
actual  circumstances  of  this  trade.  The  system 
built  up  by  Great  Britain  in  relation  to  her  colonies, 
must  be  viewed  altogether.  It  was  so  artificial,  that 
principles  not  disputed  in  the  abstract,  lost  that 
character  in  their  practical  application  to  other 
nations.  Though  one  and  all  of  these  colonies, 
were,  indeed,  of  her  own  dominion,  yet  they  were 
made  by  British  legislation,  to  stand  with  respect  to 
the  United  States,  on  the  footing  of  separate  and 
independent  countries.  Jamaica,  for  example,  was 
as  one  country  to  them;  Nova  Scotia  and  New 
Brunswick,  as  another;  whilst  the  whole  of  the 
United  States  were  made  to  present  to  Great  Britain 
but  one  country,  commercially;  although  the  ex- 


196  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

tremes  of  their  widely  extended  territory  comprised 
almost  as  great  a  variety  of  industry  and  productions, 
as  Great  Britain  proper,  and  her  West  India  Islands. 
This  was  the  root  of  the  difficulty.  To  the  British 
West  India  Islands,  certain  supplies  were  desirable ; 
and  which,  if  they  did  not  get  from  their  own  North 
American  colonies,  they  could  get  no  where  else, 
upon  terms  to  invite  an  advantageous  trade,  except 
from  the  United  States.  If  therefore  we  agreed  not 
to  impose  upon  articles  imported  into  the  United 
States  from  the  British  West  Indies,  any  higher 
duties  than  upon  similar  articles  coming  from  any 
other  foreign  country,  an  agreement  by  Great 
Britain  not  to  impose  on  articles  exported  from  the 
United  States  to  her  Islands,  any  higher  duties  than 
on  similar  articles  when  brought  from  any  other 
foreign  country,  would  be  one  of  only  nominal  reci 
procity;  because,  after  her  own  dominions  on  the 
continent  of  North  America,  there  was  no  other 
foreign  country  except  the  United  States,  from  which 
such  articles  would  be  sent.  Thus  it  was,  that  our 
third  proposition,  combined  with  the  two  others, 
was  indispensable  to  enable  the  United  States,  whilst 
carrying  on  trade  with  the  British  West  Indies,  to 
place  their  navigation  on  a  footing  of  real  equality, 
not  that  which  was  merely  verbal.  The  former 
was  the  only  footing  upon  which  any  compact 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  197 

between  the  two  countries  could  be  satisfactory  or 
lasting. 

His  lordship  did  not  accede  to  these  views;  and 
each  government  appearing  to  have  made  up  its 
mind  on  the  subject,  the  discussion  was  not  pro 
longed.  He  did  not  suffer  it  to  close  without  adding, 
that  although  our  proposals  were  declined,  it  was  in 
a  spirit  no  other  than  friendly  and  frank ;  we  might 
resort  to  any  just  and  rightful  regulations  of  our 
own,  to  meet  those  which  Britain  deemed  it  neces 
sary  to  adhere  to,  in  regard  to  her  West  India 
Islands;  it  would  form  no  ground  of  complaint  what 
ever,  on  the  part  of  His  Majesty's  government.  I 
also  said  in  conclusion,  that  this  might  naturally  be 
expected  to  be  the  course  which  the  United  States 
would  adopt,  as  had  before  been  intimated  to  His 
Majesty's  government;  and  adopted  certainly  in  no 
unfriendly  spirit,  but  with  a  view  to  secure  for  their 
citizens  what  their  government  believed  to  be  equal 
rights  in  trade.  The  subject  was  now  disposed  of. 
It  remained  at  rest  until  revived  at  a  subsequent 
negotiation  to  be  mentioned  hereafter ;  each  nation  in 
the  meantime  pursuing  its  own  independent  policy. 

His  lordship  passed  to  another  subject.  He  ad 
verted  spontaneously  to  the  Florida  treaty.  He  did 
so,  to  corroborate  his  former  communications  to  me. 
He  took  from  his  table  some  of  Sir  Henry  Welles- 
ley's  dispatches  from  Madrid,  and  read  passages  from 


198  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

a  couple  of  them,  showing  that  that  ambassador  had 
made  known  to  the  Spanish  Cabinet,  the  wishes  of 
the  British  government  for  the  ratification  of  our 
treaty.  He  also  read  me  a  passage  from  one  of  his 
own  dispatches  to  the  ambassador,  in  which  an 
unequivocal  opinion  was  expressed,  that  the  true 
interests  of  Spain  would  be  best  promoted  by  a  rati 
fication. 

He  next  asked  if  I  had  heard,  during  the  summer, 
of  an  intended  visit  of  a  Mr.  ******  to  London.  I 
replied  that  I  had.  He  said  he  had  too,  but  that 
he  had  not,  in  fact,  arrived.  The  Spanish  govern 
ment  knew  too  well  the  opinion  of  His  Majesty's 
government  to  imagine  that  the  propositions  with 
which  ******  was  charged,  could  ever  be  counte 
nanced.  These,  he  continued,  were,  to  ask  a  loan  of 
money  from  England  to  pay  the  American  claims 
recognized  by  the  Florida  treaty ;  and  also  to  inquire 
if  Great  Britain  would  consent  to  make  common 
cause  with  Spain,  in  the  event  of  a  rupture  between 
the  latter  and  the  United  States.*  His  lordship 
then  stated,  that  the  willingness  of  the  British  Court 
to  acquiesce  in  our  possession  of  the  Floridas,  might 
be  inferred  from  the  indirect  offer  which  it  had  made 
two  years  ago  to  mediate  between  the  United  States 

*  This  sheds  some  light  on  the  anonymous  communications  mentioned  in 
Chapter  XV.  of  the  former  volume.  I  naturally  supposed  that  Britain  would 
countenance  no  such  propositions,  though  not  then  knowing  what  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh  told  me  in  this  interview. 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  199 

and  Spain,  which  we  had  declined.  This  offer,  he 
remarked,  was  made  on  the  supposition  that  the  ces 
sion  of  these  provinces  to  us,  would  have  formed  the 
basis  of  the  negotiation ;  and  to  such  a  basis  Britain 
was  prepared  at  that  time  to  consent,  whatever  her 
opinions  formerly. 

His  lordship  also  put  into  my  hands  at  this  inter 
view,  something  not  to  have  been  read  without  the 
interest  attaching  in  diplomatic  life,  to  what  pro 
ceeds  from  high  sources.  It  was  a  letter  addressed 
to  him  by  Sir  Charles  Stuart,  the  British  ambassa 
dor  in  Paris,  relating  to  an  anecdote  in  which  the 
Duchess  d'Angouleme  and  Mr.  Gallatin  were  the 
parties.  It  stated  that  at  a  court  just  held  by  the 
king  of  France,  the  Duchess  pointedly  asked  Mr. 
Gallatin,  in  the  hearing  of  others  of  the  diplomatic 
corps,  if  British  interference  had  not  been  at  the  bot 
tom  of  the  rejection  of  our  treaty  with  Spain !  Mr. 
Gallatin  replied  no,  that  so  far  from  it,  Great  Britain 
had  endeavoured  to  promote  an  issue  directly  the 
contrary.  Sir  Charles  adds,  that  he  thanked  Mr. 
Gallatin  for  the  justice  rendered  his  court,  but  hinted 
a  wish  that  the  contradiction  might  not  be  urged 
further.  The  meaning  of  this  caution  I  inferred  to 
be,  that  as  the  Duchess  ought  not  to  have  harbored 
the  suspicion  which  her  question  implied  without 
adequate  grounds,  the  question,  publicly  proceeding 
as  it  did  from  a  source  in  such  close  connexion  with 


200  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1819. 

the  French  throne,  had  little  claim  to  more  than  one 
contradiction. 

In  the  course  of  the  interview,  his  lordship  glanced 
at  the  pretexts  under  which  Spain  withheld  her  con 
sent  to  the  treaty,  as  he  had  learned  them  through 
Sir  Henry  Wellesley.  These,  in  a  word,  were, 
though  his  lordship  did  not  go  into  them,  an  allega 
tion  by  Spain,  that  the  United  Sates  desired  to  alter 
one  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty,  by  making  certain 
declarations  as  to  its  meaning,  when  the  ratifications 
were  to  be  exchanged;  and  next,  that  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  had  sanctioned  an  expe 
dition  against  the  Spanish  province  of  Texas ;  both 
which  allegations  were  shown  in  the  end  to  be 
groundless. 

September  18.  Had  another  interview  with  Lord 
Castlereagh,  on  his  invitation  sent  to  me  this  morn 
ing.  It  was  for  the  purpose  of  informing  me,  that 
the  choice  of  the  Prince  Regent  had  fallen  upon  Mr. 
Stratford  Canning,  as  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Min 
ister  Plenipotentiary  from  England  to  the  United 
States,  in  the  room  of  Mr.  Bagot,  who  was  appointed 
ambassador  to  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg!!. 

In  selecting  this  gentleman,  his  lordship  said,  that 
the  Prince  Regent  had  been  actuated  by  an  anxious 
desire  to  keep  up  the  system  of  conciliation,  wiiich 
had  been  acted  upon  with  so  much  advantage  to  both 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  201 

countries  by  Mr.  Bagot;  and  his  Royal  Highness  had 
the  best  reasons  for  believing  that  he  possessed  every 
qualification  for  treading  in  the  same  path. 

In  speaking  more  particularly  of  Mr.  Canning,  he 
carried  back  his  narrative  to  1812.  That  year  found 
him,  he  said,  in  the  post  of  Secretary  to  the  British 
embassy  at  Constantinople.  The  ambassador  being 
called  away,  Mr.  Canning,  under  dormant  creden 
tials,  which,  according  to  usage  in  the  diplomatic 
service  of  England,  he  was  possessed  of,  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  embassy,  with  the  rank  and  functions  of 
Minister  Plenipotentiary.  In  this  situation,  impor 
tant  duties  fell  upon  him,  which  he  performed  in  a 
manner  highly  satisfactory;  but  he  attracted  the 
favorable  notice  of  his  government  chiefly  by  ser 
vices  which  he  rendered,  as  auxiliary  to  the  conclu 
sion  of  a  treaty  between  the  Ottoman  Porte  and 
Russia;  accomplishing  an  object  dear  at  that  time  to 
Great  Britain.*  He  was  soon  afterwards  appointed 
minister  to  Switzerland.  This,  although  not  gen 
erally  a  leading  station,  was  converted  by  events 
into  a  conspicuous  theatre  for  the  display  of  his 
fitness  for  a  high  diplomatic  trust.  Being  there 
when  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  were  assembled  at 
Vienna  in  1815,  and  questions  of  interest,  as  well 

*  Russia  and  Turkey  being  at  war,  this  treaty  effected  peace  between 
them,  thus  liberating  Russian  troops  from  that  service  to  go  against  Napo 
leon;  as  the  treaty  between  Persia  and  Russia,  already  mentioned,  had  dis 
engaged  them  from  service  against  Persia. 


202  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

between  the  states  of  Switzerland  themselves  as 
between  some  of  them  and  France,  coming  up  for 
consideration,  Mr.  Canning  was  requested  to  give  his 
attendance  at  the  congress.  Thither  he  repaired, 
and  from  the  usefulness  of  his  information,  and  dis 
cretion  of  his  counsels,  left  upon  all  minds  the  best 
impressions.  Returning  to  his  station,  he  remained 
until  a  few  months  ago,  faithfully  and  ably  dis 
charging  his  duties ;  when,  as  was  believed  for  some 
domestic  reasons,  he  requested  his  recall. 

Such  was  the  account  his  lordship  gave  me.  He 
added,  that  his  appointment  to  the  United  States, 
was  to  be  considered  as  the  proper  reward  of  past 
services.  He  mentioned  that  he  would  be  made  a 
privy  counsellor,  the  Prince  Regent  intending  to 
annex  that  dignity  to  his  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
to  the  United  States.  He  further  spoke  of  Mr. 
Canning  as  joining  to  his  abilities,  personal  dis 
positions  kind  and  conciliatory. 

I  thanked  him  for  his  communication,  telling  him 
of  the  pleasure  I  should  have  in  imparting  it  to 
my  government. 

In  the  evening,  I  dined  with  Mr.  Lyttelton  at 
Putney.  We  had  a  small  but  agreeable  party.  It 
could  not  have  been  otherwise  in  a  circle  where 
Lady  Sarah  Lyttelton  lent  her  aid  to  the  cordial 
hospitality  of  Mr,  Lyttelton.  Captain  Spencer  of 
the  navy,  was  of  the  company.  He  expected  soon 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  203 

to  sail  in  his  frigate,  the  Owen  Glendower,  for  the 
Pacific,  as  part  of  Sir  Thomas  Hardy's  squadron. 
This  frigate  was  built  with  the  round  stern,  the 
first  of  that  description,  according  to  the  plan  of  Sir 
Robert  Seppings,  which  the  admiralty  had  adopted. 
The  "round  stern"  was  talked  of,  and  conversation 
enlivened  and  diversified  by  many  other  topics. 

Mr.  Lyttelton  afterwards  became  Lord  Lyttelton, 
heir  of  Hagley,  and  Lady  Lyttelton,  mistress  of  that 
elegant  abode.  There,  at  that  classic  seat,  it  was 
once  my  lot  to  pass  a  Christmas  week,  with  a  youth 
ful  son ;  the  mansion  enlivened  by  other  company, 
and  every  thing  to  render  hospitality  attractive. 
Lord  Lyttelton  died  soon  afterwards,  to  the  un 
feigned  regret  of  his  American  guest  and  friend, 
wrho  would  here  pay  a  fleeting,  but  sincere  tribute 
to  his  virtues.  After  the  death  of  Lord  Lyttelton, 
the  accomplished  mind  of  Lady  Lyttelton,  pure 
principles,  and  mingled  sprightliness  and  dignity, 
pointed  her  out,  among  the  illustrious  matrons  of 
England,  for  the  high  trust  of  superintending  the 
education  of  the  children  of  the  present  Queen  ;  a 
situation  which  I  believe,  she  now  holds  in  the  palace. 

September  29.  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  the  newly 
appointed  minister  to  the  United  States,  and  several 
of  the  diplomatic  corps  dine  with  us;  also  Mr. 
Planta.  Mr.  Canning  manifests  in  conversation 


204  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 

every  desire  to  render  the  mission  in  his  hands  sub 
servient  to  harmony  and  good  will  between  the  two 
countries. 

October  2.  Mr.  *****  visits  me.  He  says 
the  Spanish  ambassador  is  very  uneasy  under 
the  armament  fitting  out  in  Ireland  in  aid  of  the 
revolted  colonies.  He  remonstrates,  but  ineffec 
tually,  against  it.  He  adds  that  the  subject  makes  a 
talk  in  the  diplomatic  circle. 

Getting  on  other  topics,  he  was  led  to  speak  of 
allowances  to  some  of  the  ambassadors.  The  Aus 
trian  ambassador,  he  said,  received  ten  thousand 
ducats  a  year.  The  Russian  got  more;  but  the 
Austrian,  besides  the  above  sum  from  his  govern 
ment,  had  the  same  amount  annually  allowed  him 
by  his  father,  the  elder  Prince  Esterhazy.  The 
French  ambassador  he  believed,  received  twelve 
thousand  sterling  a  year,  with  an  allowance  for 
occasional  entertainments.  The  foreign  secretary  of 
England,  he  added,  was  also  allowed  for  entertain 
ments.  He  further  stated,  that  France  gave  her 
ambassador  in  London,  two  thousand  pounds  a  year 
more  than  her  ambassadors  at  any  other  court. 
Speaking  of  British  ambassadors  abroad  he  said, 
that  a  service  of  plate  as  a  personal  gift  to  them,  had 
lately  been  discontinued.  The  plate  was  now  con 
sidered  as  attached  to  the  embassy,  and  had  the 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  205 

public  arms  upon  it.  To  her  ministers  plenipoten 
tiary,  England  gave  no  service  of  plate,  but  made 
some  extra  allowance  in  lieu.  This  was  the  infor 
mation  he  gave  on  these  matters,  saying  that,  by 
as  much  as  he  had  heard,  he  believed  it  not  far  from 
the  truth. 


18 


206  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1819. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


DINNER   AT  THE    TRAVELLER'S   CLUB.    ARMAMENTS   IN 
AID  OF  THE  SPANISH  AMERICAN  CAUSE.       DINNER  AT 

BARON  FAGEL'S,  AMBASSADOR  FROM  THE  NETHER 
LANDS.  PRIZES  TAKEN  BY  THE  SPANISH  AMERI 
CANS,  NOT  ADMITTED  INTO  ENGLISH  PORTS.  INTER 
VIEW  WITH  LORD  CASTLEREAGH  ON  THE  SLAVE 
TRADE.  OFFICIAL  NOTES  ON  THAT  SUBJECT — AND 
PARLIAMENTARY  ADDRESSES. 

October  4.  Dine  at  the  Traveller's  Chib.  A 
party  of  about  ten  are  at  table,  made  up  of  English 
gentlemen  and  the  diplomatic  corps.  This  club 
consists  I  was  told  of  four  hundred  members,  noble 
men  and  gentlemen.  One  of  the  requisites  to  mem 
bership  is,  that  the  applicant  should  have  travelled 
at  least  five  hundred  miles  out  of  England.  The 
Club  House  is  a  large  one  in  Waterloo  Place,  not 
far  from  Carlton  House,  Besides  the  beautiful  library 
of  the  club,  the  rooms  are  abundantly  supplied  with 
newspapers,  periodical  works,  chess  boards,  and  all 
things  else  usual  in  these  great  establishments  as 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  207 

they  exist  in  London.  The  rent  of  the  house  with 
out  furniture,  was  stated  to  be  a  thousand  guineas  a 
year.  Looking  at  the  regulations,  I  observed  that 
one  of  them  prohibited  dice,  and  allowed  no  game 
of  hazard  in  the  rooms  of  the  club. 

At  seven  we  sat  down  to  a  dinner  served  on  silver, 
and  attended  by  liveried  servants.  Every  body 
seemed  at  home.  Mr.  Planta  was  of  the  party,  and 
a  good  contributor  to  the  conversation.  There  was 
no  swearing,  any  more  than  at  private  tables  in 
England — which  I  have  never  heard.  Talking 
with  Mr.  *****  on  that  rule  of  the  club,  by  which 
one  black  ball  excludes,  he  agreed  to  what  I  had 
heard  remarked  at  Lord  Westmoreland's ;  namely, 
that  to  have  had  two  duels,  would  be  likely  to  exclude 
any  candidate  without  further  scrutiny ;  a  quarrel 
some  temper,  or  something  akin  to  it,  would  be  in 
ferred.  He  admitted  duelling  to  be  unavoidable  in 
the  existing  state  of  manners ;  but  said  that  expe 
rience  proved  it  to  be  very  rare  in  private  society 
among  the  best  gentlemen  in  England,  who  always 
understood  each  other.  All  the  members  of  the 
diplomatic  corps  had  the  freedom  of  this  club  ex 
tended  to  them ;  and  this  was  far  from  being  the 
only  time  I  dined  there,  in  the  midst  of  enlightened 
and  agreeable  circles. 

October  5.     I  learn  from  good  authority,  that  in 


208  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

addition  to  an  armament  already  dispatched  from 
Ireland  to  aid  the  Spanish  colonists,  from  two  to 
three  thousand  men  will  soon  follow ;  their  first  des 
tination  to  be  Margaritta.  They  will  be  under  the 
command  of  General  Devereux,  a  native  of  Ireland, 
but  long  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  resident  in 
Baltimore,  an  honorable  man,  and  reputed  a  good 
soldier.  He  intends  to  embark,  in  person,  with  this 
force.  The  law  is  evaded  by  the  men  going  out 
under  color  of  settling  as  farmers  and  laborers  in 
the  province  of  Venezuela.  The  better  to  mask  his 
project,  it  is  said  that  General  Devereux  has  re 
ceived  either  an  actual  or  ostensible  grant  from 
General  Bolivar  of  fifty  square  leagues  of  land  in 
that  province. 

It  has  been  remarked,  quaintly,  as  illustrating  the 
difficulty  of  framing  penal  statutes  which  could  not 
be  evaded  in  England,  that  the  only  statute  out  of 
which  the  subject  could  not  creep,  was  the  old  one 
for  burying  in  woollen.  It  is  a  hard  task  to  execute 
laws  where  public  opinion  is  against  them.  In  Ire 
land,  it  is  known  that  attachment  to  the  cause  of  the 
colonists  has  become  very  general.  In  England,  it 
is  strong  in  powerful  commercial  circles,  and  even 
in  some  others.  But  whence  are  derived  the  pecu 
niary  supplies  necessary  for  so  large  an  expedition 
as  the  one  now  fitting  out  in  Ireland,  seems  not  easy 
to  discover.  It  is  said  that  General  Devereux 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  209 

does  it  on  his  own  means ;  but  troops  are  raised  and 
equipped,  transports  hired,  munitions  provided,  and 
a  large  enterprise  in  all  things  completed,  for  active 
military  operations.  All  this  would  appear  to  be 
an  undertaking  too  much  for  private  means.  The 
General  has  his  head  quarters  at  a  hotel  in  Dublin, 
wears  a  military  dress,  and  has  aids  about  him. 
It  seems  difficult  to  reconcile  all  this  with  the 
strict  enforcement  of  the  Foreign  Enlistment  bill, 
passed  to  stop  aid  from  going  to  the  Spanish  colo 
nists  ;  but  facts  must  speak  for  themselves,  and  my 
informant  can  scarcely  be  in  error,  having  seen  part 
of  what  he  mentions,  and  being  too  honorable  to 
misstate  things.  I  communicate  to  my  government 
all  that  he  tells  me. 

October  6.  Dine  with  Baron  Fagel,  ambassador 
from  the  Netherlands.  The  company  was  composed 
of  foreigners  chiefly,  with  some  English  gentlemen. 
Amongst  the  former  was  a  youth  of  about  fifteen,  a 
native  of  Java,  dressed  in  the  fashion  of  his  country, 
who  had  lately  come  to  London  with  a  public  func 
tionary  of  Holland,  arrived  from  that  island.  His 
behaviour  was  remarkable.  At  table,  he  retained  his 
self-possession  with  entire  modesty;  and  what  was 
more  striking,  seemed  at  fault  in  none  of  the  conven 
tional  forms  of  the  dinner.  This  was  observed  by 
all.  So  it  is,  that  native  aptitudes  will  sometimes 

18* 


210  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

greatly  supply  the  want  of  previous  training,  even 
for  the  nicest  occasions  of  social  life ;  like  those  intel 
lects  which,  in  regions  of  thought  more  important, 
can  go  on,  from  conclusion  to  conclusion,  without 
the  intermediate  processes  necessary  to  others. 

Mr.  Barrow,*  of  the  admiralty,  was  of  the  company, 
and  talked  with  his  usual  command  of  resources  for 
conversation.  Ship  building  being  spoken  of,  one  of 
his  remarks  was,  that,  as  a  science,  it  was  still  in  its 
infancy;  hitherto,  in  England,  it  had  been  in  the 
hands,  almost  exclusively,  he  added,  of  practical 
men  merely.  Mr.  Hammond,  British  minister  to 
the  United  States  in  General  Washington's  time, 
was  among  the  guests.  I  found  him  still  familiar 
with  some  of  the  incidents  of  our  government  at 
that  early  day,  when  the  French  revolution  raged, 
and  party  spirit,  among  us,  rested  chiefly  on  an 
espousal  of  the  cause  of  one  or  other  of  the  great 
belligerents,  France  or  England. 

October  8.  I  am  informed  that  Mr.  Irisari,  a 
deputy  from  Chili,  has  had  an  informal  interview 
with  Lord  Castlereagh.  He  asked  whether  the  ves 
sels  of  Chili  would  not  be  admitted  into  the  ports 
of  Britain?  His  lordship  replied,  certainly — at  all 
times.  Would  their  prizes,  also?  Here  Lord  Cas 
tlereagh  made  objection,  saying  that  such  a  permis- 

*  Afterwards  Sir  John  Barrow,  Bart. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  211 

sion  might  give  cause  of  complaint  to  Spain.  His 
lordship  then  said,  that  Sir  Thomas  Hardy,  who 
was  appointed  to  command  the  squadron  destined 
to  act  in  the  south  seas,  was  charged  to  attend  to 
British  interests  in  that  quarter,  and  would  be  the 
medium  of  any  communications  necessary  between 
his  own  government  and  the  authorities  of  Chili, 
and  thus  exercise,  in  effect,  consular  functions. 
The  deputy  inquired,  if  Great  Britain  would  not, 
in  return,  receive  a  consul  from  Chili?  His  lord 
ship  answered,  that  such  reciprocity  did  not  appear 
to  follow  as  a  duty,  Chili  being  not  yet  recognized 
by  other  nations  as  an  established  power;  but  he 
said,  that  the  instructions  to  Sir  Thomas  Hardy 
directed  him  to  pay  respect  to  all  the  just  regula 
tions  of  trade  and  commerce,  established  by  those 
exercising  the  powers  of  Government  in  Chili. 

October  10.  We  were  at  Drury  Lane  last  night. 
Guy  Mannering  was  the  play,  and  "  Scots  wha'  ha' 
wi'  Wallace  bled,"  was  sung  by  Braham,  long  a 
famous  singer,  whom  we  had  not  heard  before.  The 
song,  which  breathes  the  spirit  of  freedom  and 
heroism,  was  enthusiastically  applauded,  and  encored 
twice.  The  Duke  of  Kent  was  present.  "God 
save  the  King  "  was  sung  by  all  the  performers,  the 
band  playing  it,  and  the  curtain  rising,  as  well  as 
the  audience,  when  he  first  entered  his  box.  This 


212  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

member  of  the  Royal  family,  seems  a  favorite 
General  Harper  remarked  after  a  conversation  of  a 
few  minutes  with  him  at  the  levee,  that  although 
unable  to  judge  of  his  intellectual  powers  in  an 
interview  so  brief,  he  was  struck  with  his  well- 
selected  words  and  clear  enunciation  of  them.  Men 
tioning  my  countryman  General  Harper  in  this 
connexion,  I  feel  impelled  to  add,  that  he  had  a 
mind  stored  with  knowledge,  and  by  the  union  of 
indomptable  industry  with  native  talents,  and  a  de 
sire  for  honorable  distinction,  stood  in  the  front  rank 
of  professional  and  public  fame  in  our  country ; 
whilst  allied  by  marriage  to  the  Carroll  family  of 
Maryland,  whose  illustrious  head  obtained  the  appel 
lation  of  "  The  last  of  the  Signers"*  he  derived  and 
imparted  advantage  from  that  estimable  connexion. 

% 

Novembe^  9.  On  the  4th  instant,  Lord  Castlereagh 
wrote  me  the  following  note  : 

Lord  Castlereagh  presents  his  compliments  to  Mr. 
Rush,  and  will  be  happy  to  have  the  honor  of  seeing 
him  at  eleven  o'clock  A.  M.,  the  5th  instant,  if  that 
hour  is  not  inconvenient  to  Mr.  Rush. 

FOREIGN  OFFICE,  November  4,  1819. 

Through  an  accident  the  note  did  not  get  to  my 

*He  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  survived  all 
the  others. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  213 

hands,  until  the  evening  of  the  fifth,  and  interme 
diate  notes  between  us  having  arranged  this  day  (the 
ninth,)  for  the  interview,  it  accordingly  took  place. 
It  was  a  subject  his  lordship  had  much  at  heart — 
that  of  the  slave  trade.  After  a  word  of  explanation 
on  the  short  notice  given  in  his  first  note,  which 
arose  from  his  being  still  partly  at  North  Cray  and. 
partly  in  town,  he  remarked,  that  the  government  of 
Great  Britain  had  lost  none  of  its  anxiety  to  see  a 
more  universal  and  effective  cooperation  among 
independent  states,  for  putting  down  the  traffick. 
It  was  still  carried  on  he  said  to  a  lamentable  extent ; 
and  in  some  respects,  as  evidence  collected  by  the 
African  Institution  and  from  other  sources  would 
show,  was  marked  by  more  than  all  its  original  out 
rages  upon  humanity.  It  was  the  intention  of  the 
Prince  Regent  again  to  invite  the  United  States  to 
negotiate  upon  the  subject,  in  the  hope,  notwith 
standing  what  had  hitherto  passed,  that  some  prac 
ticable  mode  might  yet  be  found  by  which  they 
could  yield  their  assent  to  an  association  with  other 
powers  for  accomplishing  the  object  all  had  in  view. 
That  I  was  aware  of  the  addresses  to  the  Prince 
Regent  presented  by  both  Houses  of  Parliament  at 
the  close  of  the  last  session,  for  the  renewal  of  nego 
tiations  with  foreign  powers,  naming  especially  the 
United  States  and  France,  for  rendering  more  effec 
tual  the  laws  passed  for  abolishing  the  trade ;  and 


V 

214  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

that  in  consequence  of  this  step  it  was  his  intention 
to  enclose  to  me,  at  an  early  day,  copies  of  these 
addresses,  as  the  foundation  of  a  new  endeavor  which 
His  Majesty's  government  was  now  about  to  make 
with  that  of  the  United  States.  In  doing  so  his  pur 
pose  at  present  merely  was,  to  bespeak  my  interposi 
tion  towards  making  known  to  the  President  the  mea 
sures  contemplated,  it  being  intended  that  all  future 
negotiation  should  be  carried  on  at  Washington. 
This  he  thought  indispensable  after  the  past  failure, 
as  it  could  not  be  supposed  that  I  was  prepared  with 
any  new  authority  or  instructions  to  resume  negotia 
tions  on  this  side  of  the  water.  That  their  newly 
appointed  minister,  Mr.  Canning,  who,  his  lordship 
now  informed  me,  would  embark  early  in  the  spring, 
would  accordingly  have  the  subject  in  charge,  and 
be  prepared  to  enter  upon  it  on  his  arrival  at  Wash 
ington,  under  hopes  the  most  anxious  of  an  auspi 
cious  termination  to  his  labors. 

I  replied  that  I  would,  as  before,  be  happy  to 
make  known  to  my  government,  whatever  commu 
nication  he  might  honor  me  with.  I  adverted  again 
to  the  obstacles  which  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  interposed  to  the  project  of  naval  concert  with 
foreign  powers,  and  to  the  peculiar  and  extreme 
caution  with  which  the  question  of  search,  would 
be  viewed  throughout  our  country.  I  said  that 
these  reasons  strongly  superadded  themselves  to  the 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  215 

failure  of  the  attempt  already  made  here,  to  give  a 
propriety  to  changing  the  place  of  negotiation,  and 
therefore  I  was  very  glad  to  learn  that  the  new 
endeavor  was  to  be  made  at  Washington.  I  be 
lieved  that  the  President  had  all  his  original  sen 
sibility  to  the  importance  of  the  subject,  and  I  could 
not  doubt  but  that  he  would  receive  any  proposals 
from  His  Majesty's  government,  differently  modi 
fied  from  the  last,  with  an  earnest  desire  to  turn 
them  to  good  ends,  as  far  as  might  be  practicable, 
towards  suppressing  the  traffic.  I  remarked,  that  as 
England  had  declared,  that  the  principles  of  the  Holy 
Alliance  had  her  approbation,  though  she  was  no 
formal  party  to  it,  so  the  United  States,  acting 
within  their  constitutional  limits,  had  long  and 
earnestly  desired,  as  much  so  as  the  powers  of 
Europe  possibly  could,  to  see  the  slave  trade 
abolished,  although  unable  to  be  a  formal  party  with 
them  in  the  work.  Here  I  adverted  to  what  Lord 
Liverpool  said  last  winter  in  the  House  of  Peers; 
viz.  that  as  the  signatures  of  the  European  Sovereigns 
to  the  Holy  Alliance  were  all  by  their  own  hands, 
England  could  not  join  in  it,  as  the  Prince  Regent 
was  restrained,  by  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the 
British  constitution,  from  giving  his  autograph 
signature,  without  the  intervention  of  a  responsible 
minister.  With  such  an  illustration  as  this,  I 
remarked  to  his  lordship,  that  the  embarrassment 


216  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

which  met  us  under  our  constitutional  system  of 
government,  might  perhaps  be  the  more  readily 
seen.  He  admitted  it,  but  expressed  hopes  that  such 
and  all  other  embarrassments  might  in  the  end  be 
overcome  by  proper  modifications  of  the  plan  in 
question. 

The  interview,  after  some  incidental  conversation 
growing  out  of  the  general  subject,  here  closed. 

In  the  evening  I  dined  with  my  friend,  Mr.  George 
Marx,  Bedford-Place,  a  merchant  connected  with  the 
American  trade;  known  for  his  mercantile  intelli 
gence  and  general  information,  not  less  than  for  his 
private  worth,  and  hospitable  attention  to  Americans. 

November  14.  Received  a  note  from  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  dated  the  eleventh  instant,  in  fulfilment  of  his 
intention  made  known  to  me  in  the  foregoing  inter 
view.  It  covered  manuscript  copies  of  the  address 
presented  to  the  Prince  Regent  by  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  to  which  his  lordship  had  referred.  The 
following  is  a  copy  of  his  note : 

The  undersigned,  His  Majesty's  principal  Secre 
tary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  has  the  honor  to 
transmit  to  Mr.  Rush,  by  command  of  the  Prince 
Regent,  a  copy  of  addresses  which  were  presented 
by  both  Houses  of  Parliament  at  the  close  of  the  last 
session  to  His  Royal  Highness,  which  His  Royal 
Highness  has  to  request  Mr.  Rush  will  lay  before 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  217 

the  President,  with  an  intimation  that  it  is  the  Prince 
Regent's  earnest  desire  to  enter  without  delay  into 
discussion  with  the  government  of  the  United  States 
upon  the  important  subject  to  which  these  addresses 
refer,  and  in  the  successful  accomplishment  of  which, 
the  common  feelings  and  reputation  of  both  States, 
are  equally  and  deeply  involved. 

It  has  occurred  to  the  Prince  Regent,  that  the 
difficulties  which  have  hitherto  operated  to  prevent 
a  common  system  of  concert  and  prevention  be 
tween  the  two  governments,  as  directed  against  the 
illicit  slave  trade,  could  be  most  satisfactorily  exam 
ined  by  selecting  Washington  as  the  seat  of  delibera 
tion.  Under  this  impression  the  undersigned  has 
delayed  to  transmit  to  Mr.  Rush  the  addresses  in 
question,  till  he  could  accompany  them  with  some 
proposition  to  be  conveyed  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States  for  giving  practical  effect  to  the  views 
of  Parliament.  The  undersigned  having  lately  had 
the  honor  of  acquainting  Mr.  Rush  that  Mr.  Strat 
ford  Canning  had  been  selected  by  the  Prince  Re 
gent  to  replace  Mr.  Bagot  as  his  Envoy  and  minister 
Plenipotentiary  in  America,  and  as  that  gentleman 
will  proceed  to  his  mission  early  in  the  spring,  and 
will  carry  with  him  full  instructions  on  this  subject, 
the  undersigned  has  to  request  Mr.  Rush  will  invite 
his  government  on  the  part  of  the  Prince  Regent,  to 

19 


218  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1819. 

enter  as  soon  as  may  be  after  Mr.  Canning's  arrival, 
upon  the  proposed  discussions. 

Upon  a  subject  so  deeply  interesting  to  humanity, 
the  government  of  the  United  States  can  never 
require  any  other  impulse  than  that  of  its  moral  prin 
ciples,  to  awaken  it  to  exertion ;  but  whatever  of  aid, 
good  offices  can  contribute  to  smooth  the  way  for  an 
amicable  and  advantageous  proceeding  on  such  a 
matter,  the  undersigned  is  convinced  will  be  sup 
plied  by  Mr.  Rush's  zeal,  and  enlightened  attach 
ment  to  the  success  of  the  great  cause  which  the 
inquiry  involves;  and  in  this  view  the  recommenda 
tion  is  specially  commended,  to  his  personal  support 
and  protection. 

The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this  opportu 
nity,  to  renew  to  Mr.  Rush  the  assurances  of  his 

distinguished  consideration. 

CASTLEREAGH. 

FOREIGN  OFFICE,  llth  November,  1819. 

November  16.  To  the  above  note,  I  returned  the 
following  answer : 

The  undersigned,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Min 
ister  Plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States,  has  the 
honor  to  present  his  compliments  to  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  and  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  his  note  of 
the  eleventh  of  this  month.  . 

The  copy  of  the  addresses  to  the  Prince  Regent 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  219 

from  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  session,  respecting  the  slave  trade,  which,  by 
command  of  his  Royal  Highness,  came  enclosed  in 
Lord  Castlereagh's  note,  with  a  request  that  they 
might  be  laid  before  the  President,  the  undersigned 
will  lose  no  time  in  transmitting  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  with  that  view.  The  intimation  of  its  being  the 
earnest  desire  of  the  Prince  Regent  to  enter,  without 
delay,  into  discussions  with  the  United  States  upon 
the  important  subject  to  which  these  addresses  refer, 
and  in  the  successful  accomplishment  of  which,  the 
two  nations  have  a  common  interest,  will,  the  under 
signed  is  persuaded,  be  met  by  his  government,  in 
the  same  spirit  which  has  given  birth  to  the  desire 
in  the  mind  of  his  Royal  Highness. 

The  undersigned  cannot  avoid  expressing  his 
acquiescence  in  the  opinion,  that  the  difficulties 
which  have  hitherto  operated  to  prevent  a  system  of 
concert  between  the  two  governments,  against  the 
illicit  slave  trade,  are  most  likely  to  be  satisfactorily 
examined,  by  selecting  Washington  as  the  seat  of 
deliberation.  If,  happily,  they  are  of  a  nature  to  be 
removed,  it  is  by  such  a  transfer  of  the  seat  of  a  new 
endeavor,  that  the  best  hopes  may  be  formed;  and 
it  is  hence,  with  peculiar  satisfaction,  the  under 
signed  learns  that  Mr.  Canning,  when  proceeding  on 
his  mission  to  the  United  States,  will  carry  with  him 
such  full  instructions  on  the  whole  subject,  as  may 


220  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819, 

prepare  him  for  entering  upon  the  interesting  duty  of 
giving  effect  to  the  views  of  Parliament.  The  under 
signed  will  not  fail  to  make  known  this  intention  to 
his  government,  by  the  earliest  opportunity  he  can 
command. 

Upon  a  subject  so  universally  interesting  to 
humanity,  Lord  Castlereagh  has  justly  inferred, 
that  the  government  of  the  United  States  can 
never  require  any  other  incentive,  than  that  of  its 
own  moral  impulse  to  awaken  it  to  exertion.  But 
if,  upon  the  present  occasion,  it  needed  any  other, 
the  undersigned  must  be  permitted  to  say,  that  it 
would  be  abundantly  found  in  the  friendly  and 
enlarged  spirit  of  this  renewed  overture  from  his 
Royal  Highness,  the  Prince  Regent;  and  in  the 
liberal  justice  rendered  to  the  early  and  steadfast 
efforts  of  the  United  States  to  abolish  the  slave 
trade,  by  the  addresses  in  question  from  the  Parlia 
ment  of  this  realm.  Following  up  their  uniform 
policy  in  this  great  cause,  never  tired  of  adopting 
new  expedients  of  prohibition  where  new  evasions 
have  pointed  to  their  necessity,  the  undersigned  is 
happy  to  be  able  to  state,  feeling  sure  that  the  infor 
mation  cannot  be  otherwise  than  acceptable  to  the 
unwearied  and  useful  zeal  of  Lord  Castlereagh  in  the 
same  cause,  that,  besides  the  law  of  April,  1818,  of 
which  the  undersigned  had  the  honor  to  speak  in 
his  note  of  the  twenty-first  of  December  of  that  year, 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  221 

a  subsequent  act  of  Congress,  of  date  so  recent  as 
last  March,  has  raised  up  additional  means  for  the 
extirpation  of  the  traffick.  By  this  act,  the  President 
is  specially  authorized  to  employ  armed  vessels  of 
the  United  States  to  cruise  upon  the  coasts  of  Africa, 
and  other  new  provisions  are  introduced  for  inter 
cepting  and  punishing  such  delinquent  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  as  may  be  found  engaged  in  the 
traffick.  It  is  well  known  that  the  sentiments  of  the 
President  are  in  full  harmony  with  those  of  Con 
gress,  in  the  beneficent  desire  of  putting  a  stop  to 
this  deep-rooted  evil.  With  such  pledges  before  the 
world,  the  undersigned  cannot  err,  in  confidently 
anticipating  that  the  fresh  proposals  of  his  Royal 
Highness,  the  Prince  Regent,  will  be  promptly  taken 
up  at  Washington,  under  the  deepest  convictions  of 
their  importance,  and  with  every  anxious  desire  for 
such  favorable  results,  as  can  be  made  compatible 
with  the  constitution,  and  other  essential  interests  of 
the  republic. 

The  undersigned  is  happy  to  embrace  this  occa 
sion  of  renewing  to  Lord  Castlereagh  the  assurances 
of  his  distinguished  consideration. 

RICHARD  RUSH. 

LONDON,  November  16,  1819. 

Allusion  being  made  in  the  above  answer,  to  the 
justice  which  the  parliamentary  addresses  render  to 


222  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

the  United  States  in  connexion  with  this  subject,  I 
insert  one  of  them,  that  its  words  may  be  seen.  I 
take  the  one  from  the  House  of  Lords. 

DIE  VENERIS,  9  Julie,  1819. 

Ordered,  Ncmine  Dissentiente,  by  the  Lords  Spi 
ritual  and  Temporal  in  Parliament  assembled,  that 
an  humble  address,  &c. 

Resolved,  That  an  humble  address  be  presented  to 
His  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent,  to  assure 
His  Royal  Highness  that  we  acknowledge  with  be 
coming  thankfulness  the  zealous  and  persevering 
efforts  which  in  conformity  with  former  addresses 
of  this  House,  his  Royal  Highness  has  made  for 
accomplishing  the  total  annihilation  of  the  African 
slave  trade  by  all  the  Foreign  Powers  whose  subjects 
had  hitherto  been  engaged  in  it. 

That  we  also  congratulate  His  Royal  Highness 
on  the  success  with  which  his  efforts  have  been 
already  attended,  that  guilty  train*  ck  having  been  de 
clared  by  the  concurrent  voice  of  all  the  great  powers 
of  Europe  assembled  in  congress,  to  be  repugnant  to 
the  principles  of  humanity  and  of  universal  morality. 

That  in  consequence  of  this  declaration,  all  the 
States  whose  subjects  were  formerly  concerned  in  this 
criminal  traffick,  have  since  prohibited  it;  the  greater 
part  absolutely  and  entirely ;  some  for  a  time  partially, 
on  that  part  of  the  cost  of  Africa  only,  which  is  to 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  223 

the  north  of  the  line.  Of  the  two  States  which  still 
tolerate  the  traffick,  one  will  soon  cease  to  be  thus 
distinguished,  the  period  which  Spain  has  solemnly 
fixed  for  the  total  abolition  of  the  trade,  being  near 
at  hand.  One  power  alone, *  has  hitherto  forborne 
to  specify  any  period  when  the  traffick  shall  be 
absolutely  abandoned. 

That  the  United  States  of  America,  were  honor 
ably  distinguished  as  the  first  which  pronounced  the 
condemnation  of  this  guilty  traffick ;  and  that  they 
have  since  successively  passed  various  laws  for 
carrying  their  prohibition  into  effect :  that  neverthe 
less  we  cannot  but  hear  with  feelings  of  deep  regret, 
that  notwithstanding  the  strong  condemnation  of  the 
crime  by  all  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  and  by 
the  United  States  of  America,  there  is  reason  to  fear 
that  the  measures  which  have  been  hitherto  adopt 
ed  for  actually  suppressing  these  crimes,  are  not 
adequate  to  their  purpose. 

That  we  never  however  can  admit  the  persuasion, 
that  so  great  and  generous  a  people  as  that  of  France, 
which  has  condemned  this  guilty  commerce  in  the 
strongest  terms,  will  be  less  earnest  than  ourselves 
to  wipe  away  so  foul  a  blot  in  the  character  of  a 
Christian  people. 

That  we  are  if  possible  still  less  willing  to  admit 
such  a  supposition  in  the  instance  of  the  United 

*  Portugal. 


224  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

States,  a  people  derived  originally  from  the  same 
common  stock  with  ourselves,  and  favored  like  our 
selves,  in  a  degree  hitherto  perhaps  unequalled  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  with  the  enjoyment  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  all  their  attendant  blessings. 

That  the  consciousness  that  the  government  of 
this  country  was  originally  instrumental  in  leading 
the  Americans  into  this  criminal  course,  must 
naturally  prompt  us  to  call  on  them  the  more  impor 
tunately  to  join  us  in  endeavoring  to  put  an  entire 
end  to  the  evils  of  which  it  is  productive. 

That  we  also  conceive  that  the  establishment  of 
some  concert  and  cooperation  in  the  measures  to  be 
taken  by  the  different  powers  for  the  execution  of  their 
common  purpose,  may  in  various  respects  be  of  great 
practical  utility,  and  that  under  the  impression  of 
this  persuasion,  several  of  the  European  States  have 
already  entered  into  conventional  arrangements  for 
seizing  vessels  engaged  in  the  criminal  traffick,  and 
for  bringing  to  punishment  those  who  shall  still  be 
guilty  of  these  nefarious  practices. 

That  we  therefore  supplicate  his  Royal  Highness 
to  renew  his  beneficent  endeavors,  more  especially 
with  the  governments  of  France  and  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  for  the  effectual  attainment  of  an 
object  which  we  all  profess  equally  to  have  in  view ; 
and  we  cannot  but  indulge  the  confident  hope  that 
these  efforts  may  yet  ere  long  produce  their  desired 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  225 

effect,  may  ensure  the  practical  enforcement  of  prin 
ciples  universally  acknowledged  to  be  undeniably  just 
and  true,  and  may  destroy  for  ever  that  fatal  barrier 
which  by  obstructing  the  ordinary  course  of  civiliza 
tion  and  social  improvement,  has  so  long  kept  a 
large  portion  of  the  globe  in  darkness  and  barbar 
ism,  and  rendered  its  connexion  with  the  civilized 
and  Christian  nations  of  the  earth,  a  fruitful  source 
only  of  wretchedness  and  desolation. 

Ordered, 

That  the  said  address  be  presented  to  His  Royal 
Highness  the  Prince  Regent  by  the  lords  with  white 
staves. 

The  address  from  the  House  of  Commons  was  the 
same,  or  with  no  substantial  variations. 

November  17.  The  following  letter  to  Mr.  Galla- 
tin,  belonging  to  subjects  on  which  I  have  heretofore 
addressed  him,  is  inserted  as  closing  the  information 
I  gave  him  respecting  our  joint  negotiation. 

LONDON,  November  17,  1819. 
DEAR  SIR, 

I  ought,  before  now,  to  have  apprized  you  of  the 
issue  of  my  attempt  to  arrange  the  subject  of  the 
West  India  trade  with  this  government.  Consider 
ing  all  that  you  did  a  twelve-month  ago  here,  upon 
that  and  other  branches  of  our  joint  negotiation,  I 


226  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 

think  you  have  a  fair  claim  to  know  how  it  has 
ended.  I  cannot  put  you  in  possession  of  this  infor 
mation  better  than  by  conveying  to  your  hands  a  copy 
of  my  report  to  the  department  of  State,  drawn  up  the 
day  after  my  interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh  on 
the  sixteenth  of  September.  It  is  accordingly  en 
closed  in  this  letter. 

My  last  dates  from  the  department  are  to  the  23d 
of  August.  I  am  informed  by  them,  as  doubtless 
you  have  been,  of  the  course  to  be  pursued,  so  far  as 
the  executive  determination  is  concerned,  under  the 
refusal  by  Spain  to  ratify  the  Florida  treaty.  Mr. 
Forsyth  writes  to  me  that  Ferdinand  persists  in  his 
refusal. 


I  believe  I  have  not  yet  thanked  you  for  your 
favor  of  the  12th  of  September,  which  gave  me  valu 
able  information.  I  had  never  before  heard  with 
certainty,  that,  pending  the  negotiation  at  Washing 
ton  about  the  Floridas,  we  had  unequivocally  refused 
to  connect  with  it  any  question  about  recognizing 
the  Spanish  colonies.  The  contrary,  you  may  recol 
lect,  was  affirmed  almost  universally  in  the  British 
journals.  I  never  believed  it,  and  so  expressed  my 
self  on  all  occasions,  but  had  not  the  means  of  posi 
tive  contradiction. 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  227 

We  are  all  well,  and  unite  in  remembrances  to 
Mrs.  Gallatin,  Miss  Frances,  and  the  young  gentle 
men. 

From,  Dear  Sir, 

Yours  with  faithful  respect, 
RICHARD  RUSH. 

ALBERT  GALLATIN,  Esquire, 
Envoy  Extraordinary  and 
Minister  Plenipotentiary 

from  the  United  States — Paris. 


228  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1819. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


NUMBER  OF  AMERICAN  VESSELS  IN  BRITISH  PORTS. 
DINNER  AT  THE  CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  EXCHEQUER'S. 
OPENING  OF  PARLIAMENT — AN  EARLY  SESSION  CALL 
ED  ON  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DISTURBED  STATE  OF  THE 
COUNTRY.  LEVEE  AT  CARLTON  HOUSE.  FETE  AT 

THE    SPANISH    AMBASSADOR'S THE    HORSE    GUARDS 

CALLED  OUT.  DUTY  ON  TOBACCO,  SNUFF  AND  HOPS. 
DINNER  AT  MR.  COLQUHOUN's.  INTERVIEW  ON  OFFI 
CIAL  SUBJECTS  WITH  LORD  CASTLEREAGH.  ENG 
LAND  CONSENTS  TO  THE  EMPEROR  OF  RUSSIA  AS 
UMPIRE  UNDER  THE  DISPUTED  ARTICLE  OF  THE 
TREATY  OF  GHENT. 

November  19.  In  a  dispatch  of  to-day  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  I  mention  the  following  facts : 
viz.  that  at  the  close  of  last  month  there  were  but 
two  vessels  of  the  United  States  in  the  port  of  Liver 
pool  ;  and  during  the  first  week  of  the  present  month, 
only  a  single  one  in  the  port  of  London. 

The  number  of  United  States  vessels  annually 
arriving  at  Liverpool  before  and  since  the  war  of 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  229 

1812,  has  frequently  been  from  three  to  four  hun 
dred,  sometimes  more,  the  most  of  them  ships  of 
good  size ;  and  the  arrivals  at  London  since  the 
spring  of  1815,  until  the  close  of  1818,  have  been 
sixty-four  annually,  taking  the  average. 

The  extraordinary  falling  off  is  ascribed  to  the 
numerous  commercial  failures,  and  to  the  depression 
of  business  generally  in  the  United  States ;  of  which 
the  condition  of  the  state  banks,  and  bank  of  the 
United  States,  is  given  as  one  of  the  causes.  Many 
of  these  institutions  have  failed,  and  others  been 
greatly  embarrassed  in  their  affairs ;  whilst  all  the 
resources  and  energies  of  the  country,  remain  the 
same. 

At  seven  in  the  evening,  I  went  to  dinner  at  the 
Chancellor  of  Exchequer's,  where  we  had  several  of 
the  diplomatic  corps  and  other  company.  Again  we 
were  in  the  dining  room  of  Mr.  Pitt  and  Sir  Robert 
Walpole,  with  memorials  of  the  times  of  each 
around  us ;  and  none  were  better  able  to  call  them 
up,  with  appropriate  anecdote  and  allusions  at  his 
table,  than  our  hospitable  entertainer. 

November  24.  Parliament  was  opened  yesterday 
by  the  Prince  Regent  in  person.  I  was  in  the  am 
bassador's  box,  with  the  rest  of  the  diplomatic  corps. 
As  the  Regent  read  his  speech,  the  Duke  of  Wel 
lington  stood  on  the  throne  by  his  side,  holding  the 

20 


230  RESIDENCE    AT  THE  [1819. 

sword  of  state.  The  speech  began  as  usual  with 
announcing  in  terms  of  regret,  the  continued  indis 
position  of  the  King;  and  it  told  both  Houses  that 
his  Royal  Highness  continued  to  receive  from 
foreign  powers,  the  strongest  assurances  of  their 
friendly  disposition  towards  England. 

Parliament  has  been  opened  at  a  day  unusually 
early,  and  the  speech  assigns  the  disturbed  state  of 
the  country  as  the  cause.  Seditious  practices  stated 
to  have  been  prevalent  in  some  of  the  manufacturing 
districts,  (Manchester,  and  the  riots  in  that  vicinity 
in  August,  being  chiefly  meant,)  had  led  ministers 
to  make  some  addition  to  the  military  force,  with  a 
view  to  their  more  effectual  suppression.  For  this 
step,  they  desire  the  sanction  of  Parliament,  as  well 
as  for  other  measures  contemplated  by  them  in  aid  of 
the  public  tranquillity,  and  due  execution  of  the  laws. 

The  usual  address,  reflecting  back  the  speech  and 
adopting  its  sentiments,  was  moved  in  both  Houses, 
but  strongly  opposed  by  Earl  Grey  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  Mr.  Tierney  in  the  House  of  Commons; 
each  of  whom  moved  an  amendment.  After  debate, 
the  ministers  triumphed  by  large  majorities  in  both 
Houses,  thus  carrying  the  address  as  it  stood. 

The  speech  had  also  a  paragraph  relating  to  the 
depression  existing  in  certain  branches  of  the  manu 
factures,  and  consequent  distress  among  those  con 
nected  with  them.  Speakers  in  both  Houses  whilst 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  231 

handling  that  part  of  it,  made  allusions  to  distresses 
existing  in  the  United  States,  some  of  them  alleging 
that  they  were  more  general  and  severe  than  in 
England.  Even  the  speech  from  the  throne  stated, 
that  the  depressed  condition  of  the  manufactures  was 
in  a  great  measure  to  be  ascribed  to  the  embarrassed 
situation  of  "other  countries" 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  on  the  other  hand,  that  in 
the  United  States,  our  newspapers  and  public  docu 
ments  ascribed  our  distress  in  a  great  degree  to  the 
depressed  condition  of  business  and  industry  abroad, 
but  chiefly  to  the  distress  in  England. 

Both,  to  a  certain  extent,  were  true;  and  what 
can  more  show  the  dependence  of  countries  one 
upon  another  ?  And  may  I  not,  in  this  connexion, 
be  allowed  to  recall  the  declarations  made  to  Mr. 
Gallatin  and  me  by  Lord  Castlereagh,  when  opening 
an  important  negotiation  between  the  two  countries 
at  North  Cray  ?  Upon  that  occasion,  amongst  other 
sentiments  which  he  uttered,  he  said,  "  Let  us,  in 
short,  strive  so  to  regulate  our  intercourse  in  all 
respects,  as  that  each  nation  may  be  able  to  do  its 
utmost  towards  making  the  other  rich  and  happy." 

A  liberal  sentiment,  and  wise  as  liberal ;  one  in 
unison  with  the  spirit  of  an  age,  which  seeks  to 
lessen  the  causes  of  national  dissension  and  war ;  a 
sentiment,  than  which  no  better  motto  could  be 
chosen  by  all  nations  entering  upon  negotiation; 


232  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

and  most  especially  suited  to  the  United  States  and 
England,  as  having  common  interests  and  sympa 
thies,  perhaps  beyond  all  others  existing. 

November  26.  Attend  the  levee  at  Carl  ton  House. 
Converse  with  Mr.  Robinson,  Mr.  Vansittart,  Lord 
Westmoreland,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Mr.  Strat 
ford  Canning,  and  several  of  the  diplomatic  corps. 
Hear  nothing  of  our  own  affairs.  Topics  are  gene 
ral.  The  disturbed  state  of  the  country  is  one ;  the 
weather  another ;  the  weather — always  a  topic  in 
England,  because,  as  Johnson  says,  it  is  always 
•uncertain ;  and  this  season  especially  a  topic,  winter 
having  set  in  uncommonly  soon ;  which  as  one  re 
marks  it  to  another,  the  ball  of  conversation  thus 
gets  its  first  motion.  And  before  any  one  pronounces 
it  a  trifling  or  unapt  topic,  let  him  turn  to  Johnson's 
essay  on  the  subject  in  the  Idler. 

November  29.  Mr.  Coke  dines  with  us.  He  is 
all  cordiality  and  good  spirits.  His  conversation  is 
of  England,  English  persons  and  English  things. 
He  told  anecdotes — some  of  the  royal  family. 
There  was  this  of  the  late  Queen:  that  on  the 
evening  after  the  duel  between  the  Duke  of  York 
and  Duke  of  Richmond,  then  Colonel  Lenox,  the 
Queen  met  the  latter  in  one  of  the  court  circles  and 
was  more  than  usually  gracious,  offering  her  hand 


1819.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  233 

as  she  first  addressed  him.  He  told  some  of  the 
Prince  Regent,  who  used  to  be  his  guest  at  Hoik- 
ham,  when  Prince  of  Wales.  Speaking  of  the 
nobility,  he  said  that  of  the  eighteen  dukes  in  the 
three  kingdoms,  nine  were  on  the  ministerial  side, 
and  nine  in  opposition ;  he  enumerated  the  latter, 
most  of  whom  were  his  friends,  and  added  that  two 
of  the  royal  dukes — the  Duke  of  Kent  and  Duke 
of  Sussex,  usually  voted  also  with  the  opposition. 
Speaking  of  the  taxes,  he  said,  that  himself  and 
others  of  his  county  whom  he  named,  (opulent  land 
holders,)  had  resolved  that  they  would  pay  no  more; 
that  is,  if  they  were  taxed  higher  in  some  things, 
they  would  retrench  their  consumption  in  others,  so 
as  to  keep  at  the  point  where  they  stood. 

How  Mr.  Coke  would  have  reconciled  retrench 
ment  any  where,  with  all  his  munificent  and  long 
indulged  hospitalities,  was  not  for  me  to  inquire. 
The  Duke  of  Medina  Celi,  in  Spain,  once  finding 
his  expenses  too  great,  determined  on  retrenchment. 
Calling  up  his  butler,  chamberlain,  equerry,  and 
all  others,  he  desired  to  know  what  could  be  dis 
pensed  with ;  and  upon  receiving  reports  from  all, 
it  was  ascertained  that  the  only  item  which  could 
possibly  be  struck  from  the  annual  expenses,  con 
sistently  with  the  comforts  and  dignity  of  his  house 
hold,  was  one  lamp  in  the  hall!  Would  the  noble- 
hearted  proprietor  of  Holkham,  whom  I  am  proud 

20* 


234  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

to  have  called  my  friend,  have  retrenched  after  that 
fashion  ? 


December  16.  The  Spanish  ambassador  gave  a 
grand  entertainment  last  night  in  honor  of  the  mar 
riage  of  his  sovereign  to  a  princess  of  Saxony. 
The  Prince  Regent;  the  Dukes  of  York,  Clarence, 
Kent,  and  Gloucester;  Prince  Leopold;  the  Duke  of 
Wellington;  the  members  of  the  cabinet;  the  foreign 
ambassadors  and  ministers  and  their  ladies;  many  of 
the  nobility,  and  other  persons  of  distinction,  were 
there. 

My  carriage  arrived  at  the  door  at  about  half-past 
ten,  when  we  witnessed  an  unexpected  scene.  Inside 
and  out  the  ambassador's  whole  domicil  was  illumi 
nated.  In  front  of  it,  on  the  wide  flag  pavement, 
was  drawn  up,  a  strong  detachment  of  the  horse- 
guards — their  heels  close  upon  the  iron  palisades, 
and  heads  facing  the  street.  Every  sword  was 
drawn.  The  bright  steel,  the  scarlet  uniforms  and  jet 
black  horses,  were  imposingly  shown  by  a  thousand 
lamps;  and  although  the  crowd  in  Portland  Place 
seemed  immense  through  the  glasses  of  our  carriage, 
all  was  silence.  As  we  got  out,  not  a  word  was  heard 
from  the  assembled  mass.  All  seemed  gazing  at  the 
ambassador's  domicil  blazing  with  light,  and  the 
array  of  cavalry  under  its  windows.  The  scene  was 
inexplicable  until  we  entered.  I  then  learned,  that 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  235 

the  government,  having  been  warned  of  a  probable 
disturbance,  owing  to  the  high  names  which  it  was 
supposed  this  fete  would  bring  together,  had  called 
out  these  horse-guards. 

All  was  tranquillity  inside.  The  banquet  was 
sumptuous.  Amidst  the  train  of  servants  were  two 
called  running  footmen,  in  livery  different  from  the 
rest,  and  wearing  plumes.  One  stood  behind  the 
Prince  Regent's  chair,  the  other  behind  that  of  the 
Duchess  of  San  Carlos.  Besides  other  arrange 
ments  which  the  ambassador  had  made  for  the  plea 
sure  of  his  guests,  there  was  one  as  precautionary 
against  accident ;  he  had  caused  fire  engines,  and  a 
supply  of  firemen,  to  be  stationed  close  at  hand  in 
case  of  fire,  so  profuse  were  the  lights  inside  and  out 
of  the  mansion. 

The  Prince  Regent  went  away  before  the  general 
company.  None  go  while  he  remains — this  would 
not  be  in  proper  form ;  and  it  was  observed  that  a 
party  of  the  horse-guards  attended  him  to  Carlton 
House,  as  his  carriage  drove  off. 

December  20.  In  my  dispatch  of  this  date  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  I  mention  that  a  bill  has  been 
brought  into  the  House  of  Commons  for  continuing 
the  duty  on  tobacco,  snuff,  and  hops,  for  the  ensuing 
year.  Hops  are  charged  with  a  specific  duty  on 
importation  from  foreign  countries,  of  five  pounds 


236  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1819. 

eight  shillings  sterling  the  hundred  weight.  This 
amounts  to  a  prohibition  of  our  hops,  as  Mr.  Han- 
bury  told  me,  unless  in  years  when  the  English  crop 
fails,  or  is  short.  There  is  no  duty,  strictly  speak 
ing,  on  the  importation  of  tobacco ;  but  when  deliver 
ed  for  home  consumption  in  England  from  a  ship 
arriving  from  foreign  ports,  it  is  immediately  subject 
to  an  excise,  many  hundred  per  cent,  above  the 
original  cost  of  the  article;  which  bears  hard  upon 
it,  as  one  of  the  productions  of  our  old  southern 
states,  and  some  of  our  new  states. 

December  22.  Dined  at  Mr.  Colquhoun's,  St. 
James's  street,  author  of  the  "Power  and  Resources 
of  the  British  Empire,"  "Police  of  London,"  and 
other  works.  Of  the  company,  were  Major  General 
Wittingham,  the  newly  appointed  governor  of  Domi 
nica,  with  some  West  India  proprietors,  and  other 
gentlemen,  and  the  son  of  Mr.  Colquhoun,  Consul 
General  from  the  Hanseatic  republic.  We  had  much 
conversation;  and  the  table  displayed  honorable  tokens 
of  merit,  in  silver  vases  and  other  ornamental  articles, 
presents  from  the  Senate  of  Hamburgh,  the  Island  of 
St.  Vincents,  and  other  communities,  to  the  elder 
Mr.  Colquhoun,  for  faithful  services  rendered  in  the 
management  of  their  affairs,  private  or  political,  in 
the  course  of  a  long  and  active  life  in  London.  For 
wines,  we  had  them  of  quality  and  variety  to  suit  all. 


1819.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  237 

There  was  old  hock,  a  present  from  the  Senate  of 
Hamburg;  and  claret  was  produced,  that  had  been 
seven  years  under  water.  It  was  in  an  outward 
bound  Indiaman,  going  as  part  of  a  stock  to  the 
Marquis  of  Wellesley,  when  Governor  General  of 
India.  The  vessel  being  wrecked,  the  wine  was 
brought  up  by  a  diving  machine,  after  that  lapse  of 
time.  Being  in  bottles  well  corked,  it  remained 
sound,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  table,  had  not  lost 
its  flavor.  All  agreed,  that  its  original  destination 
was  a  fair  pledge  of  its  good  quality  when  shipped. 

"  Bacchus  and  fostering  Ceres,  powers  divine, 
Who  gave  us  corn  for  mast,  for  water  wine  1" 

Than  the  classic  statesman  for  whom  this  wine 
was  first  intended,  none  could  better  have  parodied 
this  tribute  to  Bacchus,  by  chaunting  in  verse  how 
delicious  it  was,  even  from  its  watery  bed ! 

During  the  evening,  the  conversation  turned  on 
West  India  interests;  in  which,  under  appeals  to 
me,  I  participated  as  far  as  I  justly  might.  There 
was  a  desire  to  learn  from  me  the  state  of  the  nego 
tiations  between  the  United  States  and  England, 
under  this  head.  I  stated,  in  a  wrord,  the  views  of 
the  former,  as  disclosed  in  the  negotiations  of  last 
year,  the  result  having  been  published  at  Washing 
ton;  but  did  not  speak  of  the  recent  communications 
I  had  made  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  received  from 
him. 


238  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

1820.  January  13.  Had  an  interview  with  Lord 
Castlereagh,  at  my  request;  the  object,  in  part,  being 
to  determine  upon  an  umpire,  under  the  first  article 
of  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  As  the  United  States  con 
strued  the  article,  it  threw  an  obligation  upon  Eng 
land  to  make  compensation  for  all  slaves,  the  property 
of  their  citizens,  who,  at  the  date  of  the  ratification, 
were  in  any  territory  or  places  directed  by  the  treaty 
to  be  restored,  but  were  then  still  occupied  by  the 
British,  whether  the  slaves  were  on  shore  at  that 
date,  or  on  board  of  British  vessels  lying  within  our 
waters. 

England  objected  to  so  broad  a  construction, 
alleging  that  she  was  absolved  from  making  com 
pensation  for  any  of  the  slaves  who  at  that  date  had 
been  transferred  from  our  territory  to  her  ships  of 
war,  still  lying  within  our  waters. 

And  now.  at  this  interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh, 
I  proposed  the  Emperor  of  Russia  as  the  umpire, 
under  the  provisions  upon  this  subject  in  the  fifth 
article  of  the  convention  of  October,  1818.  He  re 
plied  that  he  would  lay  my  proposals  before  the 
Prince  Regent,  and  furnish  me  with  an  answer  at  as 
early  a  day  as  was  in  his  power. 

I  next  broached  the  subject  of  the  interference  on 
the  part  of  the  British  authorities  in  Upper  Canada, 
with  the  Indians  residing  within  our  territory, 
stating  in  general  terms  the  extent  and  injurious 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  239 

consequences  of  it.  I  said  that  my  government  had 
no  belief  that  a  proceeding  so  unfriendly  had  its 
foundation  in  any  act  or  intentions  of  His  Majesty's 
government ;  but  that  harmony  would  be  best  pro 
moted  through  its  suppression  by  His  Majesty's 
government.  I  told  his  lordship  that  I  would,  at  an 
early  day,  put  into  his  hands  documents  on  this  sub 
ject,  showing  how  the  facts  were.  He  promised  that 
all  proper  attention  should  be  paid  to  it. 

I  also  read  to  him  the  copy  of  a  letter  from  the 
Navy  Department  written  by  order  of  the  President 
to  Commodore  Stewart,  commander  of  our  squadron 
in  the  Mediterranean,  on  the  subject  of  the  duels 
between  certain  officers  of  the  sloop  of  war  Erie, 
belonging  to  the  squadron,  and  certain  British  offi 
cers  of  the  64th  regiment,  belonging  to  the  garrison 
at  Gibraltar.  The  letter  conveyed  the  President's 
disapprobation  of  such  practices,  with  the  expression 
of  his  hopes  that  they  would  not  be  repeated,  and 
that  all  causes  of  them  might  be  avoided. 

These  matters  disposed  of,  I  referred  incidentally 
to  the  President's  message  to  Congress  at  the  open 
ing  of  the  session  last  month,  remarking  to  him, 
"You  see  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  is  for  acting  upon  the  principles  of  an 
English  court  of  equity — good  authority  we  hope  ; 
it  is  for  carrying  our  agreement  with  Spain  into 
specific  execution."  "  So  I  perceive,"  he  replied, 


240  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

"  but  do  you  consider  it  a  part  of  national  law,  that, 
if  one  party  refuse  to  ratify  a  treaty,  even  admitting 
no  departure  from  instructions  by  the  minister  nego 
tiating  it,  the  other  party  may  go  on  to  act  as  if 
the  provisions  were  in  full  force?''  I  said  no,  and 
that  no  such  principle  was  asserted,  or,  as  I  appre 
hended,  implied  in  the  message ;  the  measure  had 
been  taken  on  a  basis  of  its  own,  and  was  thought  to 
be  justifiable  by  the  long  and  injurious  delays  prac 
tised  by  Spain  in  regard  to  all  the  matters  in  dis 
pute;  delays  which  we  believed  the  whole  world, 
when  well  informed  of  them,  would  admit  to  have 
been  un§ust.  He  barely  rejoined,  that  he  supposed 
our  explanation  would  be  to  that  effect. 

January  17.  The  weather  for  upwards  of  a 
month,  has  been  very  cold.  The  thermometer  has 
been  nearly  all  the  time  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five 
degrees  below  the  freezing  point.  The  Thames  is 
frozen  over.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Kew  bridge, 
the  ice  is  stated  to  be  eighteen  inches  thick,  and  in 
some  places  near  Woolwich,  a  great  deal  thicker. 
Snow  has  fallen  in  great  quantities.  The  papers  con 
tain  accounts  of  persons  having  been  frozen  to  death 
in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  of  great  suffer 
ing  among  the  poor  from  the  severity  of  the  weather. 

January  20.     I  addressed  a  note  to  Lord  Castle- 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  241 

reagh  on  the  15th  instant,  requesting  an  interview 
for  the  purpose  of  putting  into  his  hands  a  copy  of 
the  papers  which  make  known  the  interference  on 
the  part  of  the  British  colonial  authorities  in  Upper 
Canada,  with  the  Indians  within  our  limits.  His 
lordship  being  out  of  town,  I  was  invited  to-day  to  the 
Foreign  Office  by  Mr.  Planta,  as  representing  him. 

He  acknowledged  on  behalf  of  Lord  Castlereagh 
the  receipt  of  my  note,  and  said  that  his  lordship 
would  appoint  a  time  for  seeing  me  as  soon  as  he 
returned  to  town.  He  then  made  the  following  com 
munications  under  instructions  from  Lord  Castle 
reagh. 

He  said  that  his  lordship  had  taken  the  commands 
of  the  Prince  Regent  as  to  the  umpire  on  the  point 
in  controversy  respecting  the  slaves  carried  away 
under  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  and  that  His  Royal  High 
ness  assented  to  the  President's  desire  that  the  true 
construction  of  the  treaty  in  this  particular  should 
be  referred  to  the  decision  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia. 
Lord  Castlereagh  being  desirous  that  I  should  be  in 
formed  without  loss  of  time  of  this  assent,  would  not 
leave  town  without  causing  it  to  be  thus  imparted  to 
me ;  and  Mr.  Planta  added,  that  as  soon  as  his  lord 
ship  returned,  he  would  suggest  such  official  steps 
as  it  appeared  to  the  British  government  proper  for 
both  governments  to  adopt  with  a  view  to  give  effect 
to  their  mutual  desire. 

21 


242  RESIDENCE    A.T  THE  [1820. 

The  other  communication  which  Mr.  Planta  made 
to  me  was  embraced  in  a  dispatch  received  by  Lord 
Bathurst  as  Secretary  of  the  Colonial  Department, 
from  the  governor  of  New  Providence.  This  paper 
he  read  to  me  at  the  instance  of  Lord  Castlereagh. 
It  bore  date,  Nassau,  September  the  30th,  1819,  and 
informed  Lord  Bathurst,  that  the  Seminole  king, 
Kenadjie,  had  arrived  at  that  island,  with  six  Indian 
chiefs  and  seventeen  attendants;  that  all  these 
Indians  had  merit  in  the  eyes  of  Great  Britain 
from  having  been  useful  to  the  British  during  the 
attack  upon  New  Orleans,  and  that  they  claimed 
the  countenance  and  support  of  the  governor,  as 
representing  the  British  government  in  that  quarter; 
nevertheless  the  governor  replied,  that  he  would  not 
interfere  in  any  way  in  their  behalf  during  a  state  of 
peace  with  the  United  States,  and  sent  them  home 
again  with  no  other  relief  than  that  which  humanity 
prescribed  to  their  immediate  and  pressing  wants. 

I  thanked  Mr.  Planta  for  the  communications, 
begging  him  to  assure  Lord  Castlereagh  that  I 
would  promptly  make  known  both  to  my  govern 
ment,  as  I  accordingly  did.  I  also  in  due  time  ap 
prized  Mr.  Campbell,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of 
the  United  States  at  St.  Petersburgh,  of  the  assent 
of  the  British  government  to  the  Emperor  Alexan 
der,  as  umpire ;  and  I  gave  the  same  information  to 
Mr.  Gallatin  at  Paris. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  243 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


DEATH  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  KENT.  DEATH  OF  GEORGE 
THE  THIRD.  SOLEMNITIES  AND  CEREMONIES  CON 
NECTED  WITH  THE  DEMISE  OF  THE  CROWN.  THE 
PRINCE  REGENT  ASCENDS  THE  THRONE.  DISSOLU 
TION  OF  PARLIAMENT  DETERMINED  UPON.  STATE 
OF  THINGS  BETWEEN  THE  KING  AND  PRINCESS  OF 

WALES.       INTERVIEW    WITH    LORD     CASTLEREAGH 

CATO  STREET  CONSPIRACY.  DINNER  AT  THE  TRA 
VELLER'S  CLUB.  DINNER  AT  MR.  STRATFORD  CAN- 
NING'S.  MEASURES  OF  PARLIAMENT  UNDER  THE 
DISURBED  STATE  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  DINNER  AT 
SIR  EDWARD  ANTROBUS's  ;  AT  MR.  HOLLAND'S. 

January  28.  On  the  23d  of  this  month,  died  at 
Sidrnouth,  in  Devonshire,  the  Duke  of  Kent,  fourth 
son  of  the  King,  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age.  A 
character  of  him  in  the  Times  of  a  few  days  ago, 
enumerates  among  topics  of  eulogy,  that  he  was  "  a 
kind  master,  and  a  punctual  and  courteous  corres 
pondent."  Referring  to  his  rigor  as  a  disciplinarian, 
even  to  things  most  minute,  while  in  military  com- 


244  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

mand,  the  same  article  has  the  following  remarks: 
"  His  attention  to  the  appearance  and  discipline  of 
his  regiment,  was  unremitting ;  but  as  he  could  not 
inspire  all  the  military  world  with  an  equal  sense  of 
the  solid  value  of  those  dry  details,  which  ought  to 
employ  so  large  a  portion  of  military  life,  or  with  an 
equal  taste  for  those  minutise  of  the  service,  of  which 
nevertheless,  when  considered  in  the  aggregate,  the 
correct  performance  adds  so  much  to  the  precision 
and  efficacy  of  military  tactics,  he  was,  for  some 
time,  an  unpopular  commander.  Every  military 
man  is  not  capable  of  discovering,  in  the  best  con 
ceived  order,  or  wisest  rule  laid  down  for  his  obser 
vation  by  superior  authority,  the  direct  relation  of 
the  means  to  the  end.  It  may  not  be  thought,  at 
first,  of  serious  importance  that  an  officer's  coat  or 
sword  belt,  should  be  of  a  specific  fashion  or  color ; 
but  let  us  consider  that  the  excellence  of  an  army 
consists  in  its  susceptibility  of  collective  and  uniform 
impulses,  and  we  must  admit  that  uniformity  in 
smaller  things — in  hourly  occupations  and  objects  of 
attention — nay  in  the  form  of  hats,  or  a  boot,  may 
contribute  to  enforce  upon  common  minds,  the  main 
principle  of  harmony  in  action." 

The  Grecian  Phalanx,  the  Roman  Legion  and  the 
army  of  Frederick,  sustain  the  spirit  of  these  con 
densed  and  well  expressed  remarks. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  245 

January  31.  On  the  evening  of  the  29th  instant, 
the  King  died  at  Windsor  Castle,  in  the  eighty- 
second  year  of  his  age.  This  event  was  announced 
to  the  Foreign  Ministers  by  a  note  from  the  Secre 
tary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  yesterday.  The  follow 
ing  is  a  copy  of  the  one  I  received : 

"It  is  with  the  deepest  concern  that  Viscount 
Castlereagh,  one  of  his  late  Majesty's  principal 
Secretaries  for  Foreign  Affairs,  has  the  honor  to 
acquaint  Mr.  Rush,  that  it  has  pleased  Almighty 
God  to  take  unto  himself,  his  late  most  gracious  and 
excellent  Majesty,  George  the  Third.  His  Majesty 
expired  at  the  Castle  at  Windsor,  yesterday  evening 
at  thirty -five  minutes  past  eight  o'clock,  to  the  great 
affliction  of  all  the  Royal  Family,  and  of  all  classes 
of  His  Majesty's  subjects.  Viscount  Castlereagh  is 
persuaded  that  Mr.  Rush  will  participate  in  the 
general  grief  which  this  melancholy  event  has  occa 
sioned,  and  requests  that  he  will  accept  the  assur 
ances  of  his  high  consideration. 

"  FOREIGN  OFFICE,  January  30,  1820." 

The  King's  long  reign  of  sixty  years,  made  the 
earlier  parts  of  it  historical  to  the  generation  which 
now  witnessed  his  death.  This  was  the  case  with 
all  Americans  born  at  the  close  of  the  American 
revolution,  and  was  my  case.  To  this  English 
monarch's  well  known  remark  on  receiving  the  first 


246  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

minister  from  the  United  States,  (Mr.  Adams,)  viz. 
that  as  he  had  been  the  "last  man  in  his  kingdom  to 
consent  to  our  Independence,  so  he  would  be  the 
last,  now  that  it  was  established,  to  call  it  in  ques 
tion,"  I  can  add  another  anecdote,  derived  from  an 
authentic  source.  Mr.  West,  the  painter,  whose 
patron  and  friend  the  King  was,  being  with  him 
during  the  American  war  on  an  occasion  when  news 
came  of  a  victory  over  the  Americans,  the  King 
gave  expression  to  his  feelings.  Observing  Mr. 
West  to  remain  silent,  while  all  was  gladness  in  the 
palace,  he  remarked,  "  Why  so  silent  Mr.  West — 
why  not  rejoice?"  The  latter  replied,  "  I  hope  that 
your  Majesty  will  not  take  it  amiss  if  I  cannot  feel 
pleasure  in  hearing  of  misfortunes  to  those  amongst 
whom  I  was  born,  and  passed  my  early  days." 
"  Right,  right,  West — a  good  sentiment — I  honor 
you  for  it,"  was  the  King's  reply. 

These  anecdotes  might  have  been  sufficient,  had 
there  not  been  other  duties  prompting  to  it,  to 
secure  a  respectful  answer  to  Lord  Castlereagh's 
note,  responding  to  the  forms  of  his  own.  I,  accord 
ing,  sent  one  of  that  kind.  The  venerable  age  of  this 
King,  and  the  affliction  with  which  he  was  visited 
during  so  many  of  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  made 
him  largely  an  object  of  sympathy  with  all  classes 
in  England.  He  seems  to  have  outlived  political 
animosity,  and  to  have  closed  his  long  and  eventful 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  247 

reign  amidst  the  general  good  will  of  his  people ;  a 
feeling,  extended  and  strengthened  by  the  purity  of 
his  private  life. 

Besides  the  foregoing  note  from  Lord  Castlereagh, 
there  came  enclosed  to  me,  by  his  lordship,  a  copy  of 
the  London  Gazette,  extraordinary,  of  the  30th  of 
January,  containing  a  letter  from  the  Duke  of  York, 
dated  at  Windsor,  to  Lord  Sid  mouth,  Home  Secre 
tary,  announcing  the  King's  death  as  soon  as  it  hap 
pened,  and  enclosing  the  statement  of  his  physicians. 
A  copy  of  the  Gazette  of  the  31st  was  also  sent  to 
me,  mentioning,  that,  on  the  information  of  the 
King's  death  reaching  London,  the  lords,  spiritual 
and  temporal,  and  those  of  the  privy  council,  and 
other  persons  named,  assembled  at  Carlton  House, 
and  duly  published  and  proclaimed  George  IV.,  late 
Prince  of  Wales,  as  lawful  King  of  the  realm ;  and 
that  the  same  authority  had  given  orders,  for  pro 
claiming  him  in  proper  form.  The  Gazette  further 
contained  the  declaration  of  the  new  King  to  the 
people  of  the  realm ;  in  which,  amongst  other  things, 
he  pledges  himself  to  use  his  endeavors  to  promote 
their  happiness  and  prosperity,  and  to  maintain, 
unimpaired,  the  religion,  laws,  and  liberties  of  the 
country. 

February  1.  Yesterday  the  new  King  was  pro 
claimed  in  due  ceremony,  with  processions,  civil, 


248  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

military,  and  heraldic,  in  different  parts  of  the 
metropolis.  First,  in  front  of  his  own  palace,  Carl- 
ton  House;  next,  near  King  Charles's  statue,  Cha 
ring  Cross;  next,  in  the  city,  Fleet  street,  after  some 
strange  old  forms,  at  Temple  Bar,  between  the  local 
authorities  of  the  city  and  the  herald  king  at  arms, 
on  the  part  of  the  King,  before  the  gates  were  thrown 
open  to  the  King;  and  finally  at  the  Royal  Exchange. 
The  Park  and  Tower  guns  were  firing  all  the  while, 
and  trumpets  sounding,  and  divers  other  manifesta 
tions  of  joy  going  on;  all  which,  to  a  republican  of 
another  hemisphere,  might  have  seemed  in  contrast 
with  the  tolling  of  the  great  bell  of  St.  Paul's  for 
the  death  of  George  III.,  the  solemn  sounds  of 
which  were  still  in  the  public  ear. 

The  foregoing  ceremonial  would  have  taken  place 
the  day  after  the  death  of  the  late  King,  but  that  the 
thirtieth  of  January  is  still  observed  under  an  act  of 
Parliament  as  a  solemn  fast  day,  being  the  anniver 
sary  of  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  and  church  ser 
vice  is  prescribed  for  the  day;  so  that  the  joyous 
ceremonial  was  deferred  until  yesterday. 

The  cabinet  ministers  of  the  late  King  resigned 
their  appointments  on  the  morning  after  his  death, 
into  the  hands  of  the  Home  Secretary,  Lord  Sid- 
mouth  ;  when  the  new  Sovereign  immediately  reap- 
pointed  them  all. 

The  letters  of  credence  of  all  the  foreign  minis- 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  249 

ters,  being  in  form  to  the  late  King,  though  the  pre 
sent  King,  as  Prince  Regent,  administered  the 
government  in  his  name,  the  death  of  the  former 
vacated  these  also ;  but  Lord  Castlereagh  gave  an 
intimation  that  it  was  the  desire  of  the  new  King 
that  they  should  all  be  considered  as  in  full  force 
and  virtue,  until  the  respective  governments  of  the 
foreign  ministers  were  heard  from. 

February  2.  I  receive  from  the  office  of  the 
Lord  Chamberlain,  the  following  paper  relative  to  a 
court  mourning.  A  similar  one  was  sent  to  all  the 
ambassadors  and  ministers :  I  copy  it  word  for  word. 

"  Orders  for  the  Court's  going  into  mourning  on 
Thursday  next,  the  3d  instant,  for  our  late  most 
gracious  sovereign,  King  G  eorge  the  Third,  of  bless 
ed  memory,  viz. ;  the  Ladies  to  wear  black  bomba 
zines  ;  plain  muslin  or  long  linen,  crape  hoods ;  sha- 
mois  shoes  and  gloves,  and  crape  fans.  UNDRESS — 
dark  Norwich  crape. 

"  The  Gentlemen  to  wear  black  cloth,  without  but 
tons  on  the  sleeves  and  pockets ;  plain  muslin  or 
long-lawn  cravats  and  weepers ;  shamois  shoes  and 
gloves,  crape  hat-bands,  and  black  swords  and 
buckles.  UNDRESS — dark  grey  frocks." 

I  had  received  a  few  days  before,  the  orders  for  a 
court  mourning  in  terms  somewhat  similar,  for  the 
Duke  of  Kent. 


250  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

These  are  forms  incidentally  set  down  here  not 
for  comment,  but  as  things  existing  in  great  nations. 
They  may  thence  arrest  a  momentary  attention. 
Motives  may  be  perceived  why  the  foreign  minis 
ters  residing  at  the  English  court,  and  in  amicable 
intercourse  with  the  circles  composing  it,  would 
incline  to  fall  in  with  the  external  symbols  of 
mourning,  when  called  upon  officially  to  do  so, 
even  to  the  extent  of  Hamlet's  description  of  them 
all,  should  the  court  itself  choose  to  adopt  them,  at 
the  decease  of  a  revered  monarch  of  their  own,  and 
a  well-loved  member  of  their  own  royal  family ;  more 
especially  when  both  were  lying  dead  at  the  same 
time.  Conformity  in  these  things,  belongs  to  the 
class  of  sympathies  embraced  in  the  autograph  letters 
of  President  Monroe,  which  I  have  inserted  in  this 
work;  and  republics  not  inclining  to  conform,  should 
keep  their  ministers  at  home.  It  might  not  be  as 
generally  imagined,  that,  within  the  compass  of  a 
few  brief  years,  the  same  foreign  ministers  and  their 
wives  in  London,  were  officially  called  upon  to  appear 
in  the  habiliments  of  grief  for  a  king  of  Sweden ;  a 
grand  duke  of  Tuscany ;  the  king  of  Spain's  mother; 
the  king  of  Saxony's  aunt ;  a  princess  of  Saxe  Hil- 
bourghausen ;  a  prince  of  Conde ;  a  king  of  Sardinia ; 
and  for  a  long  list  in  addition,  as  European  royalty, 
direct,  collateral  and  remote,  from  time  to  time,  passed 
to  the  tomb.  But  so  it  was. 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  251 

February  5.  The  new  King  has  been  very  ill 
since  his  accession.  All  the  diplomatic  corps  have 
made  inquiries  at  Carlton  Palace  daily  for  the  last 
three  or  four  days.  The  carriages  of  the  nobility 
have  also  thronged  his  residence.  The  answers  to 
inquiries  to-day  were,  that  he  was  better. 

February  10.  At  an  informal  assemblage  of  some 
of  the  diplomatic  corps  at  the  Saxon  minister's,  it 
was  agreed  that  their  servants,  more  especially  their 
coachmen  and  footmen,  should  all  be  put  in  black 
for  the  late  King.  It  was  understood  that  the  mem 
bers  of  the  corps  not  present,  would  all  concur.  The 
venerable  Saxon  minister  remarked,  that  as  it  wrould 
be  "  an  extra  expense,  of  course,  our  courts  would 
make  a  suitable  allowance  for  it!"  The  American 
minister,  who  was  at  the  meeting,  made  no  objection 
to  the  step,  and  put  his  servants  in  black  accordingly; 
but  as  to  his  "  court,"  at  Washington,  it  is  certain 
that  he  never  brought  forward  any  such  item  of  ex 
pense  against  it. 

February  11.  I  transmit  to  the  department  of 
State,  the  report  and  appendix  laid  before  Parlia 
ment  on  the  subject  of  weights  and  measures.  Also 
information  and  communications  from  Sir  Joseph 
Banks  on  this  subject,  with  which  he  obligingly  fur 
nished  me ;  Sir  Joseph  (the  President  of  the  Royal 


252  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

Society)  having  been  placed  by  the  Prince  Regent 
last  year  at  the  head  of  a  commission  in  relation  to 
the  subject.  The  ancient  models  of  weights  and 
measures  deposited  in  the  English  Exchequer,  at 
Guildhall,  and  other  places,  having,  by  lapse  of  time 
and  other  causes,  varied  from  each  other,  so  as  to 
render  perfect  accuracy  unattainable,  the  object  of 
the  commission  was,  to  seek  the  right  modes  of  ren 
dering  them  accurate,  and  preserving  them  so.  I 
send  also  to  the  Department,  various  books;  among 
them,  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History,  and  Parlia 
mentary  Debates,  and  Pickering's  edition  of  the 
Statutes  at  large ;  all  this,  under  the  instructions  of 
Mr.  Adams,  who  is  engaged,  as  Secretary  of  State, 
in  preparing,  by  order  of  Congress,  a  report  on 
weights  and  measures. 

February  16.  This  day  the  funeral  of  George  III. 
took  place  at  Windsor.  The  shops  in  London  were 
all  shut,  the  streets  deserted,  and  the  tolling  of  the 
great  bell  of  St.  Paul's  was  heard  at  intervals  through 
out  the  whole  day.  I  pass  over  the  description  of 
the  funeral  solemnities,  given  in  all  the  chronicles  of 
the  day. 

What  a  reign  has  been  this  monarch's !  The  pub 
lications  of  the  last  fortnight,  have  teemed  with 
notices  of  it ;  of  the  mighty  scenes  and  revolutions 
which  it  has  witnessed  in  both  hemispheres;  the 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  253 

strife  of  arms  throughout  the  world,  with  which  it 
has  been  identified ;  the  dominion  lost  and  gained  to 
Britain  during  its  long  term;  the  stupendous  results 
thence  flowing  and  to  flow,  to  mankind;  and  the 
revolutions  in  science  and  other  things,  which  it  has 
also  witnessed !  These  things,  and  much  more,  the 
press  has  been  recalling.  History  will  take  account 
of  them  all.  But  that  which  was  most  calculated  to 
occupy  the  thoughts  of  an  American  minister  when 
George  III.  died,  was  the  fact,  that  his  own  country 
had  been  politically  born,  after  this  reign  com 
menced,  as  well  as  the  recollection  of  its  astonish 
ing  increase,  and  increase  of  Britain  also,  whilst 
the  same  monarch  still  sat  upon  the  throne;  an 
increase  in  resources  and  power,  far  transcending 
that  of  any  other  two  nations  of  the  globe  during  the 
same  period.  The  increase  of  both  in  population, 
throwing  into  the  scale  the  colonial  and  oriental  sub 
jects  of  Britain,  seems  to  stagger  belief.  Their  ag 
gregate  increase,  in  all  ways,  has  given  earnest  that 
Britain  and  the  United  States  are  destined  to  be 
come,  to  an  extent  not  easy  to  estimate,  the  predomi 
nating  nations  of  Christendom ;  as  already  their  joint 
commerce  and  tonnage,  those  fruitful  causes  and 
sure  evidences  of  power  in  modern  times,  over 
match  that  of  all  Christendom.  The  demonstra 
tions  are  in  steady  progress,  and  the  death  of  George 
III.  naturally  recalls  them,  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 

22 


254  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

race  is  to  rule  in  the  western  hemisphere,  as  the 
spirit  of  the  same  race  rules  in  Asia.  From  east  to 
west,  the  language,  laws,  commerce  and  freedom  of 
that  great  race,  are  extending  with  resistless  force, 
and  must  overspread,  in  primary  activity  and  in 
civilizing  power  and  influence,  the  face  of  the  globe. 
If  any  thing  could  add  to  the  force  of  such  thoughts, 
crowding  into  the  mind  of  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  officially  witnessing  the  close  of  the  reign  of 
George  III.  in  his  own  kingdom,  and  called  upon  to 
join  in  the  external  badges  of  mourning  at  the  ter 
mination  of  his  mortal  career,  it  would  be  a  recollec 
tion  of  the  predictions  at  the  close  of  the  American 
Revolution,  made  by  master  minds  in  both  hemis 
pheres,  not  only  that  the  scheme  of  popular  govern 
ment  in  the  United  States  would  fail,  but  that  the 
downfall  of  Britain  would  also  date  from  that  memo 
rable  dismemberment  of  her  own  empire.  Short 
sighted  predictions!  Each  country  an  incumbrance 
to  the  other  when  together,  their  severance  seems  to 
have  been  the  signal  of  unequalled  progress,  and 
boundless  prospects,  to  each;  not  more  in  material 
dominion,  than  in  the  solid  and  durable  glory  of 
widening  the  empire  of  rational  freedom  throughout 
the  world. 

February  19.     It  has  been  determined  that  Par 
liament  is  to  be  dissolved,  instead  of  waiting  for  the 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  255 

period  when  it  would  expire  by  law.  This  period  is 
six  months  from  the  demise  of  the  crown.  The 
opposition  strongly  object  to  this  course,  saying  that 
it  covers  an  intention  in  the  ministry  to  set  out  with 
some  high-handed  acts  of  taxation  or  power  under 
the  new  reign,  which  a  parliament  on  the  eve  of 
responsibility  to  the  people,  would  be  reluctant  to 
adopt.  The  ministers  reply,  that  they  advise  a  dis 
solution  for  the  public  convenience,  as  time  might 
fail  them  if  they  attempted  to  go  through  all  the 
business  which  the  first  session  of  the  new  reign 
will  call  for,  if  restricted  to  the  six  months ;  and  also 
that  they  advise  it  for  the  sake  of  avoiding  those 
drawbacks  to  business  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  agitations  to  the  country,  always  incident  more 
or  less  to  a  general  election  in  England. 

Beyond  this,  I  hear,  through  a  good  source,  that 
ministers  are  uneasy  at  the  state  of  things  between 
the  King  and  Princess  of  Wales,  now  become  Queen. 
As  Queen  consort  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  she  also  suc 
ceeds  to  the  rights  and  dignities  of  the  station.  The 
King  is  known  to  be  opposed  to  her  being  invested 
with  these,  and  is  understood  to  desire  a  divorce.  His 
constitutional  advisers  reply,  that  in  no  part  of  her 
conduct  that  has  yet  come  to  light,  do  they  discover 
a  sufficient  warrant  for  prosecuting  adversely  such  a 
measure  against  her.  So  matters  are  said  to  rest  at 
present,  the  new  Queen  being  still  out  of  the  Realm. 


256  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

I  even  hear,  through  another  source,  that  the  minis 
ters  are  prepared  to  withdraw  from  their  posts  rather 
than  depart  from  the  opinion  which  their  duty  has 
pointed  out  to  them,  perceiving  no  alternative  course 
in  any  lights  which  they  can  yet  command ;  and  that 
this  their  determination  has  been  made  known  to  the 
King,  who,  for  the  present,  submits  himself  to  their 
guidance.  It  is  thus  that  I  write  to  my  government 
on  the  state  of  things  since  the  demise  of  the  crown. 

February  24.  Going  to  Lord  Castlereagh's  at 
eleven  this  morning  by  appointment,  the  servant  at 
the  door  informed  me  that  he  \vas  not  up.  I  ex 
pressed  a  hope  that  he  was  not  unwell.  The  servant 
replied  that  he  did  not  know ;  on  which  I  handed 
him  my  card,  telling  him  to  give  it  to  Lord  Castle- 
reaghyand  say  that  I  had  called  according  to  appoint 
ment.  The  servant  immediately  requested  me  to 
walk  into  the  reception  room,  while  he  went  up 
stairs  with  my  card.  He  returned  with  a  request 
from  his  lordship  that  I  would  go  up  to  his  chamber ; 
on  which  I  said  that  I  should  be  most  unwilling  to 
disturb  him  if  unwell.  "  My  Lord's  desire  is  to  see 
you,  Sir,"  was  his  reply.  I  accordingly  went  up. 
Here  I  found  him  sitting  before  the  fire  on  a  sofa 
in  his  flannel  gown.  With  his  wonted  courtesy,  he 
apologized  for  giving  me  the  trouble  of  coming  up 
stairs  ;  to  which  I  answered  how  happy  I  was  to  do 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  257 

so,  unless  I  found  him  unwell,  in  which  case  I  would 
not  say  a  word  on  business  but  have  the  honor  of 
calling  some  other  time.  He  said  no,  he  was  quite 
well,  but  fatigued  from  being  kept  up  till  nearly 
daylight  through  a  cause  he  would  mention,  but 
requested  I  would  first  proceed  to  the  object  of 
our  interview,  which  he  had  not  forgotten,  and  de 
sired  to  hear  from  me  the  disclosures  I  had  to  lay 
before  him. 

My  call  related  to  a  subject  I  had  broached  last 
month,  further  attention  to  which  had  been  sus 
pended  by  the  King's  death ;  viz.  interference  by  the 
British  authorities  in  Canada,  with  the  Indians  living 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States ;  and  I 
now  handed  him  the  documents  which  went  to  show 
the  facts.  It  appeared  from  the  documents  that  an 
extraordinary  number  of  the  Indians  within  our 
limits,  chiefly  those  inhabiting  the  region  between 
Detroit  and  the  Mississippi,  had  repaired  by  invita 
tion  during  the  last  season  to  Maiden,  where  supplies 
in  great  amount  and  variety,  but  chiefly  arms,  ammu 
nition  and  clothing,  had  been  dealt  out  to  them  by 
the  British  authorities  at  that  Canadian  town  and 
fort.  That  the  number  thus  receiving  supplies,  was 
thought  to  have  exceeded  all  former  example  during 
any  one  year  of  peace  or  war  hitherto,  and  had  prob 
ably  been  little  short  of  three  thousand;  that  the 
supplies  had  been  in  the  nature  of  pure  gifts,  no 


258  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

equivalent  appearing  to  have  passed  from  the  Indians 
in  land  sold,  or  services  rendered ;  that  their  journeys 
to  and  fro,  were  fraught  with  inconvenience  and 
danger  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  dwell 
ing  within  the  region  through  which  they  passed, 
their  property  being  trespassed  upon  and  their  quiet 
invaded,  by  their  irregular,  riotous,  and  often  noctur 
nal  marches;  that  they  travelled  in  gangs  large 
enough  to  intimidate,  and,  as  the  natural  effect  of 
the  presents  they  received  at  Maiden,  and  perhaps 
of  counsels  given  to  them  by  the  ill  disposed,  uni 
formly  returned  through  the  United  States  territory 
with  growing  indications  of  ill  will  towards  our 
people.  That  rny  Government  had  no  belief  that 
such  proceedings  were,  or  could  be,  countenanced 
by  His  Majesty's  Government,  or  known  to  it ;  but 
long  experience  of  the  past,  had  admonished  us 
of  the  fatal  consequences  of  this  kind  of  inter 
course  with  the  Indians  within  our  limits.  That  it 
was  sure  to  sow  the  seeds  of  hostility  in  their  minds, 
and,  sooner  or  later,  bring  on  murder  and  plunder, 
and  often  wide-spread  desolation,  to  our  frontier  in 
habitants  ;  the  final  result  of  which  was,  when  the 
United  States  were  compelled  to  call  out  a  force,  the 
destruction  of  the  Indians,  whom  it  was  never  their 
wish  to  see  destroyed,  but  to  let  them  live  in  peace 
and  contentment.  That  it  was  in  vain  that  we  ex 
cluded  British  traders  from  the  Indians  within  our 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  259 

limits,  if  multitudes  of  our  Indians  were  invited  to 
British  depots  in  Canada  to  be  supplied  with  all  they 
wanted;  since  it  was  obvious  that  such  practices 
were  far  worse  for  us  than  if  a  solitary  British  trader, 
here  and  there,  stationed  himself  within  our  line, 
and  engaged  in  traffick  with  our  Indians.  That,  in 

O     O  ' 

fine,  the  conduct  complained  of,  looked  like  syste 
matically  attracting  formidable  bodies  of  them  from 
our  territory,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  receive 
annual  subsidies,  and  train  their  passions  for  future 
and  fatal  mischief. 

The  documents  which  I  put  into  Lord  Castlereagh's 
hands,  consisted  of  communications  from  Governor 
Cass,  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  and 
residing  in  Detroit,  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  cover 
ing  a  great  body  of  written  evidence  to  substantiate 
the  above  facts.  I  concluded,  with  an  earnest  request 
in  the  President's  name,  that  His  Majesty's  Govern 
ment  would  issue  the  proper  orders  to  the  colonial 
authorities  or  agents  in  Canada,  for  putting  a  stop  to 
the  practices  complained  of,  reminding  his  lordship  of 
the  strong  title  which  the  United  States  had  to  ask 
such  interposition,  from  having  invariably  on  their 
part  forborne  to  entertain  intercourse  with  the  Indians 
living  within  the  limits  of  British  possessions,  any 
where  along  the  line  dividing  the  territories  of  the 
two  nations. 

He  replied,  that  the  subject  was  new  to  him,  until 


260  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1820. 

I  had  opened  it  last  month ;  that  he  would  carefully 
read  the  documents  I  had  handed  him,  and  then 
submit  them  to  Lord  Bathurst,  to  whose  official 
province  the  subject  primarily  belonged;  after  which 
I  might  feel  assured  that  such  a  course  would  be 
taken  by  his  Majesty's  government,  as  the  nature  of 
the  complaint  appeared  justly  to  call  for. 

The  subject  was  now  gone  through.  I  will  own 
that  I  was  not  without  curiosity  to  learn  how  it  had 
come  to  pass,  that  I  was  called  upon  to  explain  it  in  his 
lordship's  chamber;  and  now  my  curiosity  was  to  be 
satisfied.  He  proceeded,  with  all  calmness,  to  let  me 
know  the  cause,  and  I  had  from  him  the  following 
narrative : 

He  said,  that  he  and  his  colleagues  of  the  adminis 
tration  had  been  kept  up  all  night,  and  almost  until 
dawn,  by  the  affair  of  Thistlewood's  conspiracy,  This- 
tlewood  and  his  accomplices  having  been  arrested, 
and  the  plot  crushed,  only  since  the  preceding  night 
had  set  in.  This  man,  he  said,  with  others,  had  formed 
a  plot  for  murdering  the  whole  of  the  ministers,  the 
perpetration  of  which  was  to  have  been  effected  last 
evening;  and,  daring  as  it  might  appear,  effected  in 
the  dining-room  of  Lord  Harrowby,  where  it  was 
known  the  members  of  the  cabinet  were  all  to  have 
dined  yesterday.  They  did  not  go  to  the  dinner,  as 
intended,  one  of  the  conspirators  having  warned  Lord 
Harrowby  of  the  danger,  though  only  yesterday,  while 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  261 

he  was  riding  on  horseback  in  the  Park.  Lord 
Harrowby  gave  no  countermand  to  his  butler  re 
specting  the  dinner,  but  suffered  the  arrangements 
to  go  on  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  until  between 
seven  and  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Twelve 
members  of  the  cabinet  would  have  dined  there,  but 
for  the  warning.  They  assembled  elsewhere ;  and  a 
little  before  the  time  when,  according  to  the  warning, 
the  conspirators  were  to  have  issued  from  their  ren 
dezvous,  caused  a  force,  civil  and  military,  to  be  sent 
to  the  spot  designated.  This  was  a  stable,  which  you 
entered  through  an  arch-way,  in  an  obscure  street, 
called  Cato  street,  near  the  Edge  ware  road,  about 
two  miles  from  Grosvenor  Square,  wrhere  Lord  Har 
rowby  resided;  and  in  the  loft  of  that  stable,  sure 
enough,  the  conspirators  were  found,  fully  armed, 
and  ready  to  sally  forth  on  their  work  of  blood  at  the 
hour  agreed  upon.  Fifteen  or  twenty  were  congre 
gated.  On  a  demand  to  surrender,  they  resisted 
fiercely,  and  the  civil  officers  being  in  advance,  one 
of  the  latter  was  killed,  others  wounded,  and  all 
would  probaby  have  been  overcome,  but  for  the 
arrival  of  the  military.  The  military  coming  up, 
led  by  Captain  Fitzclarence,  succeeded  in  capturing 
about  one  half;  the  remainder  escaped,  after  fighting 
their  way  as  well  as  they  could.  The  arms  found 
upon  them,  and  in  the  place  where  they  were  cap 
tured,  consisted  of  pistols,  swords,  daggers,  and  hand- 


262  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

grenades,  the  latter  formed  in  a  way  to  produce  great 
destruction  if  thrown  into  a  room. 

This,  in  effect,  was  the  account  I  had  from  his 
lordship.  It  fixed  my  attention,  and  I  heartily  con 
gratulated  him  on  his  escape,  and  the  escape  of  his 
colleagues,  from  so  barbarous  a  plot.  Our  conversa 
tion  was  prolonged  on  some  of  its  incidents  as  far  as 
yet  brought  to  light,  and  on  the  supposed  induce 
ments  to  so  bloody-minded  a  crime.  Lord  Castle- 
reagh's  conjectures  were,  that,  by  murdering  all  the 
ministers  in  a  single  night,  the  conspirators  possibly 
imagined  they  could  overturn  the  government ;  or, 
perhaps,  thought  it  more  likely,  that,  by  taking  ad 
vantage  of  the  first  moments  of  consternation  and 
tumult  which  would  have  followed  the  deed,  they 
might  have  brought  about  scenes  of  temporary  plun 
der  and  desolation  in  London,  and  then  escape  loaded 
with  booty,  before  the  law  could  overtake  them. 

Before  coming  away  after  this  unusual  inter 
view,  he  asked  me  if  I  had  seen  General  Vives, 
the  new  minister  from  Madrid  to  the  United  States, 
then  in  London,  on  his  route  to  Washington.  I  said 
that  I  had  not.  He  replied  that  he  had,  and  that  he 
had  not  failed  to  say  to  him  every  thing  of  a  healing 
nature  as  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  add 
ing,  that  he  continued  to  look  to  an  accommodation 
of  all  the  differences  with  the  same  wishes  as  for 
merly. 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  263 

Februarg  27.  Dined  at  the  Traveller's  Club.  We 
had  Mr.  Bagot,  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  Lord  Dart 
mouth,  Mr.  Planta,  Sir  Edmund  Antrobus,  Mr. 
McKensie,  Mr.  Chad,  Count  Ludolf,  and  others. 

Conversation  was  various,  the  Cato  street  conspi 
racy  not  being  forgotten.  All  seemed  to  believe  in  its 
verity,  of  which  the  circumstances  already  disclosed 
hardly  leave  a  doubt;  the  men  being  found  at  the 
place  pointed  out  by  their  accomplice;  their  being 
armed;  their  fierce  resistance  until  the  military 
arrived,  and  then  their  flight,  all  pointing  to  a 
guilty  purpose;  to  which  effect  was  the  conversa 
tion. 

Talking  with  Count  Ludolf  before  we  sat  down, 
he  mentioned  the  following  anecdote  of  Louis  XVIII. 
When  the  news  of  the  late  assassination  of  the  Duke 
de  Berri  was  brought  to  him,  he  was  in  bed.  He 
immediately  rose,  but  before  he  would  repair  to  the 
scene,  ordered  one  of  his  state  dresses  to  be  brought, 
which  he  put  on,  and  afterwards  waited  for  his  bar 
ber;  saying  that  it  was  not  proper  for  a  King  of 
France  to  appear  otherwise  before  his  subjects.  He 
made  it  three  quarters  of  an  hour  before  he  could 
get  off.  The  Duke  was  not  quite  dead  when  the 
King  arrived,  but  every  moment  was  expected  to  be 
his  last ! ! 

The  company  rose  from  table  at  about  ten, 
when  most  of  us  went  to  Lady  Castlereagh's,  where 


264  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

a  party  was  beginning  to  assemble.  Several  of  the 
ministers  were  at  it,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  among 
the  number.  The  conspiracy  appeared  to  be  the 
topic  first  spoken  of  by  all,  ladies  as  well  as  gentle 
men;  and  the  ministers  were  congratulated  by  those 
who  had  not  seen  them  before,  on  their  escape. 

March  3.  Dined  at  Mr.  Stratford  Canning's, 
great  Cumberland  street.  Of  the  guests  were  Mr. 
Bagot,  Mr.  Planta,  Sir  Edmund  Antrobus,  Mr. 
Inglis,  Count  Ludolf,  and  Mr.  J.  Adams  Smith. 

The  clubs  of  London  were  spoken  of,  particularly 
some  of  the  older  ones ;  as  White's,  Brooks's,  the 
Arthur,  Boodles,  the  Cocoa-tree,  and  the  Thatched 
House.  White's,  the  Tory  Club,  established  in  the 
time  of  Charles  II,  consisted  of  five  hundred  mem 
bers,  and  there  was  said  to  be  considerable  difficulty 
in  getting  admission,  as  it  was  generally  full.  The 
place  of  head  waiter  at  this  club,  was  said  to  be 
worth  five  hundred  guineas  a  year.  Brooks's,  the 
Whig  club,  was  not  so  numerous ;  it  consisted  of 
four  hundred  members.  Boodles  was  chiefly  for  in 
dependent  country  gentlemen,  and  was  stated  to  ex 
ceed  both  the  others  in  comfort.  Things  were  men 
tioned  of  some  of  these  clubs,  and  others  more  mod 
ern  and  costly  in  their  establishment,  showing  the 
large  moneyed  resources  which  they  have  at  com 
mand,  and  the  excellent  accommodation  thence  seen 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  265 

in  their  arrangements,  including  libraries,  maps,  and 
other  intellectual  appliances.* 

Incidents  of  the  Cato  street  conspiracy  came 
before  us;  and  we  had  plenty  of  conversation  on 
other  subjects,  intermingled  with  anecdote.  One 
which  our  host  told,  I  must  venture  upon  repeating, 
though  I  shall  not  be  able  to  give  it  with  the  point 
he  did.  It  related  to  Lord  Byron,  and  was  only  one 
of  several  which  were  told  of  him.  His  lordship 
happened  to  be  at  Constantinople  in  1810  or  '11, 
when  some  grand  procession  was  on  foot,  he,  Mr. 
Canning,  then  being  Secretary  of  the  British  Em 
bassy  in  that  capital.  His  lordship  inclining,  rather 
perhaps  as  British  peer  than  poet,  to  take  part  in  the 
procession,  applied  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Embassy 
to  know  where  his  place  would  be,  with  an  intima 
tion  that  he  supposed  his  rank  in  England  would 
not  be  overlooked.  The  Secretary  naturally  referred 
him  to  the  Ambassador  on  a  point  that  might  not 
under  all  the  circumstances,  be  of  very  easy  adjust 
ment.  The  Ambassador  was  embarrassed  between  a 

*  Having  spoken  of  the  London  Clubs  in  a  former  chapter,  I  will  here 
remark,  that  the  Secretaries  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  and  other  young 
attaches,  had  the  privilege  of  frequenting  them,  as  well  as  Ambassadors  and 
Ministers,  and  thus  had  every  opportunity  of  deriving  advantage  from  the 
improving  intercourse  to  which  they  opened  a  door.  My  son,  who  was  Secre 
tary  of  Legation  when  Mr.  Stevenson  was  Minister,  had  the  privilege  of 
visiting  the  Traveller's  Club,  and  others,  obtained  for  him  through  the  Minis- 
ter's  kind  instrumentality ;  and  he  greatly  felt  his  obligations  to  the  Com 
mittee  of  these  Clubs. 

23 


266  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

real  desire  to  oblige  his  lordship,  and  the  real  diffi 
culty  of  placing  him  where  the  noble  poet  himself 
might  have  imagined  he  ought  to  be.  At  length 
the  day  arrived,  and  Byron  made  his  appearance 
with  his  broad  cock'd  hat  on,  and  otherwise  ceremo 
niously  equipped.  He  stood  waiting  to  have  his 
place  assigned,  not  doubting  but  that  he  would  move 
with  the  Embassy,  and  perhaps  have  a  conspicuous 
place  in  it.  This  was  found  impossible,  under 
official  arrangements  common  to  all  the  Embassies, 
and  his  lordship  had  to  follow  behind,  and  make  out 
as  well  as  he  could.  When  it  was  all  over,  the*&m- 
bassador,  still  anxious  to  smooth  matters,  wrote  him 
a  courteous  note,  explanatory  of  his  inability  to  pro 
cure  him  any  other  place ;  letting  drop  the  idea  also, 
that  his  lordship  had  given  rank  to  whatever  place 
he  had.  In  reply,  Byron  sent  a  note  of  equal  cour 
tesy,  saying  that  he  had  no  complaint  whatever  to 
make,  and  withal  assuring  the  Ambassador  that  he 
would  ever  be  happy  on  such  occasions  to  walk  after 
him,  " his  ox,  his  ass,  or  any  thing  that  was  his" 

With  such  anecdotes  was  the  evening  enli 
vened.  It  had  the  charm  of  small  dinner  parties 
in  England,  where  all  the  arrangements  seem  to 
combine  to  give  to  this  form  of  social  assemblage 
chosen  facilities  for  conversation ;  before  the  attrac 
tions  of  which,  the  ancient  worship  of  the  bottle  has 
taken  a  very  secondary  place. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  267 

March  7.  Parliament  was  dissolved  the  last  of 
February,  not  by  the  new  King  in  person,  but  by 
commissioners,  and  the  work  of  electing  a  new 
House  of  Commons  has  already  been  actively  com 
menced. 

The  assassination  plot  has  continued  to  be  a  pre 
vailing  topic  in  all  circles  since  its  discovery  and 
suppression.  It  has  caused  great  excitement,  i,t  may 
almost  be  said  some  dismay,  so  foul  wras  its  nature, 
and  so  near  did  it  appear  to  have  advanced  to  suc 
cess..  Thanks  were  offered  up  at  the  Royal  Chapel, 
St.  James's,  for  the  escape  of  those  whose  lives  were 
threatened.  Different  uses  are  made  of  the  event 
according  to  the  different  opinions  and  feelings  of  the 
people  in  a  country  where  the  press  speaks  what  it 
thinks,  and  no  tongue  is  tied.  The  supporters  of 
government  say  that  it  was  the  offspring  of  a  profli 
gate  state  of  morals  among  the  lower  orders,  pro 
duced  by  publications  emanating  from  what  they 
called  the  "  cheap  press,"  which  the  late  measures  of 
Parliament  aimed  at  putting  down ;  and  added,  that 
it  vindicated  the  necessity  and  wisdom  of  those  mea 
sures.  The  opponents  of  government  who  vehe 
mently  resisted  the  measures,  insisted  in  reply,  that 
it  was  wrong  to  suppress,  or  even  attempt  to  inter 
fere  with,  such  publications,  since,  if  irritated  feel 
ing,  however  unjust  might  be  deemed  its  causes, 
were  not  allowed  vent  in  that  way,  it  would  find 


268  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1820. 

modes  more  dangerous;  and  that  although  a  check 
might  perhaps  be  given  to  the  "  cheap  press,"  other 
presses  in  England  would  hold  whatever  language 
they  pleased  against  the  government. 

Even  in  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Lords,  three 
days  after  the  event,  Earl  Grosvenor,  a  nobleman 
deeply  interested  by  his  great  possessions  in  seeing 
the  public  tranquillity  maintained,  declared  that  there 
would  not  be  wanting  persons  who  would  regard  it 
as  "  the  offspring  of  an  erroneous  system  of  coercion;" 
but  afterwards,  fearing  that  what  had  fallen  from 
him,  might  possibly  be  misconstrued  into  an  intended 
mitigation  of  the  crime,  he  explained  away  the  force 
of  his  remark. 

The  measures  of  Parliament  alluded  to,  were  ma 
tured  in  the  early  part  of  the  session,  and  I  made  a 
report  of  them  to  my  government  in  the  early  part  of 
January.  They  aimed  at  abridging  first,  the  circu 
lation  of  cheap  publications;  second,  the  freedom  of 
public  meetings;  and,  thirdly,  they  invested  magis 
trates  with  certain  powers  to  disarm  the  people,  to  a 
limited  extent,  by  clothing  them  with  authority  to 
search  suspected  places  for  arms.  The  measures 
were  not  designed  to  be  permanent,  and  have  since, 
I  believe,  been  superseded  in  most  of  their  provisions, 
or  passed  away  altogether ;  but  as  showing  the  state 
of  the  times,  I  will  introduce  from  my  report,  some 
of  the  forebodings  that  were  uttered. 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  269 

In  the  House  of  Peers,  Lord  Sidmouth,  in  defend 
ing  the  measures,  said,  that  "the  constitution  of 
England  was  in  greater  danger  than  it  had  been  at 
any  time  since  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Bruns 
wick  to  the  throne." 

Lord  Grenville  said,  that  "  nothing  could  equal 
the  imminence  of  the  peril  which  impended  over  the 
country." 

Earl  Grey,  in  opposition,  thus  expressed  himself: 
he  declared,  that  the  measures  "  took  away  the  pro 
tection  allowed  to  free  discussion,  and  aimed  a  blow 
at  one  of  the  most  valuable  rights  of  Englishmen, 
such  as  the  most  arbitrary  minister,  in  the  most  arbi 
trary  times,  never  proposed  to  Parliament." 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Plunkett  said,  that, 
"in  the  present  state  of  the  country,  the  slightest 
cause  might  be  sufficient  to  unsheath  the  sword  of 
civil  discord" 

And  Mr.  Tierney  exclaimed,  with  all  animation, 
"  I  can  see  on  the  part  of  government  a  determina 
tion  to  resort  to  nothing  but  force;  they  think  of 
nothing  else ;  they  dream  of  nothing  else ;  they  will 
make  no  attempt  to  pacify ;  force,  force,  nothing  but 
force — that  is  their  cry." 

Thus  much  for  Parliament.  Turning  to  out-door 
indications,  I  take  the  following,  as  only  a  single 
specimen ;  and  as  by  no  means  a  fair  specimen  of 
the  violence  of  language  used,  because  I  select  it  on 

23* 


270  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

account  of  the  high  names  it  presents.  On  the  24th 
of  January,  a  very  large  meeting  of  whigs  was  held 
at  Norwich  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Charles 
James  Fox,  the  great  whig  statesman  and  parlia 
mentary  orator,  during  and  before  the  French  revo 
lution.  Amongst  those  present,  were  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  premier  peer  of  England,  the  Duke  of  Sus 
sex,  and  Mr.  Coke,  of  Holkham.  One  of  the  avowed 
objects  of  the  meeting  was,  to  mix,  with  the  anni 
versary  celebration,  a  denunciation  of  the  measures 
of  Parliament.  Mr.  Coke  called  them  "  bills  of 
blood;"  and  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  denounced  them 
in  very  explicit  and  animated  terms,  saying  among 
other  things,  that  they  were  "  violent,  unnecessary, 
and  unconstitutional"  He  also  invoked  the  opinions  of 
the  Duke  of  Kent,  which  he  affirmed  to  be  the  same 
as  his  own.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  Duke  of  Kent 
was  then  lying  a  corpse  in  another  part  of  the  king 
dom,  though  this,  of  course,  was  unknown  to  his 
royal  brother. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  new  to  many  of  the  present 
generation,  that  such  accumulated  and  portentous 
dangers  existed  in  England,  in  1820.  The  opinions 
and  assertions,  from  sources  so  high,  and  which  no 
doubt  were  sincerely  uttered  at  the  time,  of  the 
reality  of  their  existence,  may  serve  to  show  of  how 
little  account  such  forebodings  generally  are  in  that 
country,  when  a  few  years  so  generally  put  them  to 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  271 

flight.  The  certainty  of  her  advancing  prosperity 
might  almost,  it  would  seem,  be  assumed,  from  asser 
tions  and  predictions  coming  from  herself,  to  the 
contrary;  since  the  absence  of  these  might  fore 
shadow,  that  the  active  spirit  of  her  people  was 
abating,  under  enervating  influences  creeping  upon 
her  to  stifle  the  boldness  of  speech  inherent  in  her 
freedom ;  and  always  sure  to  break  out  in  complaints 
of  her  condition,  and  accusations  against  her  rulers. 
Similar  complaints  and  accusations  must  ever  have 
existence,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  all  free 
and  great  nations  during  their  onward  progress  in 
resources  and  power.  They  are  witnessed  in  the 
United  States.  Such  onward  progress,  cannot  but 
be  attended  by  vicissitudes,  affording  to  the  restless 
a  large  field,  and  even  to  the  intelligent  and  patriotic, 
plausible  ground,  on  divers  occasions,  for  inveighing 
against  the  exercise  of  power,  and  exaggerating 
adverse  appearances. 

Other  nations  are  apt  to  be  misled  in  regard  to 
England,  by  this  accusing,  and  denouncing,  and 
often  despondent  voice,  ever  ready  to  be  uttered,  to 
its  very  largest  extent,  in  her  parliament,  her  press, 
and  throughout  the  ranks  of  her  people.  When, 
three  years  ago,  she  sent  her  Ambassador,  Lord 
Ashburton,  to  Washington,  to  negotiate  respecting 
the  North  Eastern  Boundary,  it  might  be  instructive 
to  recall,  even  at  this  short  interval,  all  that  was 


272  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

said,  within  her  own  borders  at  that  moment,  of  the 
Chartist  excitement;  of  the  O'Connel  movement; 
of  the  human  misery  (too  real)  just  then  discovered 
in  her  collieries;  of  the  disasters  to  English  arms  in 
Affghanistan,  and  of  her  approaching  war  with 
China.  From  these  things,  all  co-existent  at  that 
precise  epoch,  and  dwelt  upon  with  intensity  of 
emphasis  throughout  great  classes  in  her  own 
dominions,  many  of  our  own  people  were  inclined  to 
infer  the  probability — almost  certainty — that  she 
would  yield  to  us ;  yet,  what  was  her  actual  course 
in  that  important  negotiation,  and  what  is  her  situa 
tion,  at  present,  in  reference  to  those  sources  of  diffi 
culty  and  darkly  painted  dangers  ?  Where  are  they 
now  ?  Making  this  incidental  allusion  to  Lord  Ash- 
burton,  I  cannot  avoid  saying,  what  I  believe  Ameri 
cans  of  all  parties  who  knew  him  in  Washington 
would  be  ready  to  say;  namely,  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  determine  which  was  most  conspicuous 
in  him,  superior  intelligence  of  mind,  with  skill  in 
aifairs — or  an  uniformly  discreet  and  most  conciliating 
temper,  to  cooperate  with  the  powers  of  his  under 
standing,  in  dealing  with  affairs.  A  stranger  to  the 
existing  generation  among  us  on  his  first  arrival,  he 
left  our  shores  with  universal  public  respect;  although 
all  did  not  like  the  treaty  wrhich  he,  and  the  highly 
gifted  negotiator  on  the  American  side,  concluded. 
It  experienced  a  fate  common  to  most  treaties  be- 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  273 

tween  great  nations — was  inveighed  against  on  both 
sides ;  thereby  starting  the  inference,  of  there  being 
redeeming  characteristics  in  it  for  both. 

March  10.  Dined  with  Sir  Edmund  Antrobus. 
We  had  the  Earl  of  Hardwicke,  the  Earl  of  Caledon, 
Lord  Binning,  Sir  George  Warrender,  Mr.  Bagot, 
Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  and  others. 

Cobbett's  name  was  mentioned.  Lord  Hardwicke 
spoke  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  in  Eng 
land  many  years  ago,  particularly  by  Mr.  Windham, 
and  told  the  following  anecdote.  That  Mr.  Pitt  once 
came  up  to  Windham  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  said,  "  Windham,  do  you  dine  at  home  to-day?" 
"  I  do,"  said  Windham.  "  Then,"  said  Pitt,  "  I  will 
come  and  dine  with  you."  "  Agreed,"  said  Wind- 
ham,  "  but  I  fear  that  you  won't  like  your  company, 
for  Cobbett  is  to  dine  with  me."  "  Never  mind 
that,"  said  Pitt;  "  as  I  do  not  take  him  at  breakfast, 
(meaning  that  he  did  not  take  his  paper,)  I  shall 
have  no  objections  to  meeting  him  at  dinner,"  and 
accordingly  went.  This  was  during  the  time  when 
Cobbett's  extraordinary  pen  was  defending  the  gov 
ernment. 

March  11.  Dined  at  Mr.  Holland's,  Russell 
Square,  formerly  mentioned  as  of  the  firm  of 
Messieurs  Barings.  The  company  consisted  of 


274  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1820. 

Doctor  Holland,  Mr.  Lenox  of  New  York,  Mr. 
Greeg,  Mr.  Park,  and  a  few  others. 

Dr.  Holland  is  known  by  his  professional  emi 
nence,  and  as  having  been  travelling  physician  to 
the  Princess  of  Wales,  now  Queen;  and  not  less 
known  by  the  accomplishments  of  his  mind.  His 
conversation  marks  his  knowledge  on  literary  and 
other  subjects.  We  had,  as  a  topic,  the  authorship 
of  Junius,  no  new  light  appearing  as  yet  to  have 
been  shed  upon  the  question  by  the  death  of  George 
the  Third,  as  was  once  anticipated.  Dr.  Holland 
represented  the  public  belief  as  at  length,  in  a  great 
degree,  settled  down  on  Sir  Philip  Francis — the  best 
informed  men  in  England  who  had  attended  to  the 
subject,  were  beginning  to  think  so;  and,  for  him 
self,  he  considered  the  evidence  as  good  as  it  could 
be,  this  side  of  positive  proof. 

Speaking  of  Mr.  Walsh's  book  on  the  United 
States  and  England,  his  opinion  was,  that  it  would 
do  good;  and  so  thought  others,  he  added,  with 
whom  he  was  in  intercourse.  It  would  serve  to 
spread  much  information  new  to  English  readers, 
and  at  least  show  on  how  many  points  America  was 
misunderstood;  and,  from  want  of  information,  er 
roneously  judged  in  England.  I  said  that  I  had 
read  the  work  with  great  interest,  under  hopes  that 
it  would  spread  useful  light  before  both  countries. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  275 


CHAPTER  XV. 

DINNER  AT  THE  MARQUIS  OF  LANSDOWNE's.  INTER 
VIEW  WITH  EARL  BATHURST  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF 
PRESENTS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  INDIANS.  FUNERAL 
OF  MR.  WEST,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY. 
DUELS  BETWEEN  NAVAL  OFFICERS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES,  AND  BRITISH  OFFICERS  AT  GIBRALTAR 

INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  COLONIAL  SECRETARY  OF 
STATE  ON  THIS  SUBJECT.  DINNER  AT  THE  MIDDLE 
TEMPLE  WITH  MR.  GEORGE  JOY.  DINNER  AT  LORD 
HARROWBY'S;  AT  LORD  CASTLEREAGH'S  ;  AT  MR. 
ROBINSON'S. 

March  18.  Dined  at  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne's, 
where  we  had  Mr.  De  Neuman  of  the  Austrian 
Embassy,  Mr.  Lamb,  of  the  Melbourne  family,  and 
several  members  of  Parliament. 

Before  going  to  dinner,  Lord  Lansdowne,  referring 
to  the  late  revolution  in  Spain,  mentioned  that  the 
King  had  consented  to  accept  the  constitution  of 
1812.  Such,  he  said,  were  the  accounts  of  the  day. 

We  were  soon  at  table.     The  dinner  proceeded 


276  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1820. 

as  all  dinners  in  that  classic  dining-room,  where 
elegant  hospitalities  are  so  often  dispensed. 

The  courses  over,  and  servants  out  of  the  room, 
the  conversation  grew  to  be  general;  this  marking 
the  time  when  it  usually  becomes  the  most  com 
pletely  so,  at  English  dinners. 

What  subject  should  then  come  to  be  talked  over, 
but  the  old  Spanish  Armada !  How  it  got  uppermost, 
or  who  introduced  it,  I  scarcely  know.  It  seemed 
to  have  slipped  itself  in  by  some  chance — possibly 
from  the  Cato  street  conspiracy  having  produced  an 
allusion  to  Babington's  conspiracy.  Instead  of  cross 
ing  our  path  transiently  and  disappearing,  it  got  to 
be  the  topic,  excluding  others  for  its  time.  My  curi 
osity  was  awakened  to  know  what  would  be  said. 
The  Armada  had  been  in  my  fancy  since  school 
days;  I  had  got  passages  of  Elizabeth's  speech  to 
her  troops  by  heart,  as  thousands  of  American  boys, 
probably,  also  had ;  and  had  settled  it,  as  part  of  a 
boy's  creed,  not  only  that  the  invincible  Armada  was 
beaten,  but  that  if  the  Spaniards  had  landed,  they 
would  have  been  beaten  still  worse  on  terra  firma. 

Not  so  thought  the  company,  at  least  not  all; 
opinion  was  divided;  in  fact,  the  preponderance  was 
decidedly  with  Spain.  I  took  no  part.  I  left  all  to 
the  English  gentlemen,  sufficiently  taken  up  in  list 
ening  to  the  topic,  thus  handled  in  the  heart  of  Old 
England.  Those  who  sided  with  Spain,  held  that 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  277 

the  salvation  of  England  had  turned  upon  the  death 
of  the  Spanish  Admiral,  and  Vice-Admiral,  before 
the  sailing  of  the  Armada,  which  accounted  for  its 
disasters,  the  command  getting  into  inexperienced 
hands ;  the  soldiers  on  board  would  otherwise,  most 
probably,  have  been  landed;  these,  when  reinforced 
by  greater  numbers  from  the  Netherlands,  all  of  them 
Spanish  veterans,  and  joined  by  the  Catholics  of  Eng 
land,  then  secretly  inflamed  by  the  execution  of  Mary 
of  Scots,  and  the  whole  led  by  the  Duke  of  Parma, 
must  have  overwhelmed  England;  some  unknown 
chance  might  have  saved  her — nothing  short  of  it. 

So  they  viewed  the  subject,  and  so  they  seemed  to 
settle  it.  I  listened  with  a  sceptic's  ears ;  for  what 
would  the  English  armies  have  been  doing  all  the 
while?  What,  the  descendants  of  men  wrho  had 
fought  at  Cressy,  Poictiers,  Agincourt?  Such, 
thoughts  passed  in  my  mind.  There  was  no  need 
of  uttering  them,  however,  for  our  noble  host  dis 
sented.  He  had  left  the  conversation  very  much  to 
his  guests,  content  with  occasionally  throwing  in  a 
suggestion,  as  it  was  in  progress;  but,  in  the  end,  he 
gently,  and  (according  to  my  poor  thoughts,)  effec 
tually,  overset  the  whole  hypothesis  by  asking,  why 
England  could  not  have  resisted  the  Spaniards  then, 
as  well  as  the  people  of  the  Low  Countries? 

Such  were  some  of  the  historical  speculations  of 
the  evening.  Others  engaged  us  a  little.  Leland's 

24 


278  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1820. 

history  of  Ireland  was  spoken  of,  and  the  portion  of 
Irish  history  written  by  Spencer.  Of  the  former, 
Lord  Lansdowne  expressed  favorable  opinions ;  and 
the  "Fairy  Queen"  vouched  the  merit  of  the  latter. 
The  general  election  in  progress,  being  touched 
upon,  something  curious  was  mentioned;  namely, 
that  at  Preston,  the  place  where  Mr.  Hunt,  the  He- 
former,  was  a  candidate,  universal  suffrage  prevailed, 
no  freehold  or  other  qualification  of  any  kind,  save 
that  of  sleeping  six  nights  in  the  place,  being  requir 
ed  in  a  voter.  How  this  came  about  was  not  ex 
plained,  or  I  did  not  catch  the  explanation.  It  was 
remarked  upon  as  a  curious  anomaly  in  the  English 
system  of  elections. 

March  27.  Had  an  interview  with  Earl  Bathurst 
at  the  Colonial  office,  Downing  street,  on  the  subject 
of  the  presents  given  to  our  Indians  by  British 
agents  in  Canada.  His  lordship  had  on  his  table, 
all  the  papers  which  I  had  put  into  the  hands  of 
Lord  Castlereagh,  on  this  subject,  and  had  been 
examining  them. 

He  began  the  conversation  by  assurances  of  its 
being  the  desire  of  His  Majesty's  government  to 
avoid  all  disturbance  in  that  quarter  to  the  general 
harmony  subsisting  between  the  two  countries,  and 
declared  that  it  was  neither  under  any  instructions, 
nor  wishes,  emanating  from  the  government  here, 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  279 

that  the  Indians  living  within  our  Kmits,  had  resort 
ed  to  Maiden  last  year  in  the  numbers  stated.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  the  desire  of  this  government 
that  they  should  not  repair  thither,  or  to  any  of  the 
British  posts,  but  keep  altogether  within  our  terri 
tory.  If  such  bands  of  travelling  Indians  were  an 
annoyance  to  our  people  on  the  way,  it  might  be 
supposed  that  their  concentrated  numbers  when 
they  reached  Maiden,  must  prove  more  highly  so  to 
the  British  inhabitants  of  that  place.  That  this,  in 
fact,  was  the  case.  Still  less,  he  observed,  were  the 
views  of  His  Majesty's  government  carried  into 
effect,  if,  when  they  arrived  at  Maiden,  any  incite 
ments  to  hostility,  or  ill  will  of  any  kind  against  the 
United  States,  were  infused  into  their  minds  by  the 
Colonial  officers  or  agents.  Upon  this  point,  he  was 
willing  to  hope  that  there  had  been  misconceptions 
in  the  accounts  furnished  to  the  Governor  of  the 
Michigan  Territory,  and  by  him  transmitted  to  the 
Secretary  of  War.  But,  continued  his  lordship, 
although  we  do  not  invite  the  Indians  to  that  station, 
and  should  be  glad  if  they  would  not  frequent  it,  we 
are  not  at  present  prepared  to  go  the  length  of  a 
positive  interdiction.  We  will  write  to  our  proper 
officers  in  that  quarter,  and  instruct  them  to  use  the 
strongest  expostulations  to  put  a  stop  to  their  visits ; 
but  should  the  Indians  nevertheless  come,  we  cannot 
at  this  moment  say  that  we  should  feel  justified  in 


280  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

withholding  presents  which  we  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  distributing  among  all  the  Indians,  our  own 
as  well  as  others,  who,  during  a  long  course  of  time, 
have  resorted  to  our  posts.  He  here  put  into  my 
hands  a  paper  purporting  to  be  a  return,  dated  the 
thirtieth  of  August,  1819,  to  the  store  keeper  general 
in  London,  from  the  store  keeper's  office  in  Quebec, 
containing  a  list  of  all  the  presents  issued  to  Indians 
of  every  description  from  the  Indian  Department  at 
Montreal,  between  the  twenty-fifth  of  June  and 
twenty-fourth  of  August,  1819,  which  covered  the 
period  during  which  it  appeared  by  the  representa 
tions  submitted,  that  the  greatest  number  of  our 
Indians  had  assembled  at  Maiden.  He  pointed  to 
the  items  respecting  rifles,  common  guns,  powder 
and  shot ;  and  inferred  from  the  small  quantities  of 
each  dealt  out,  within  that  period,  how  inconsider 
able  must  have  been  the  share  falling  to  our  Indians, 
and  that  what  they  got,  could  only  have  been  for  the 
purpose  of  hunting.  The  return  was  an  original, 
but  he  allowed  me  to  bring  it  away  to  be  copied. 

I  replied  that  I  would  take  care  that  my  govern 
ment  should  be  distinctly  informed  of  all  he  said, 
remarking  however,  that  it  would  form  a  communi 
cation  of  a  different  nature  from  the  one  which  I 
had  hoped  to  make.  The  expectation  of  my  govern 
ment  undoubtedly  was,  that  the  intercourse  would 
be  wholly  prohibited.  It  could  not,  I  remarked,  be 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  281 

necessary  for  me  to  say,  that  to  give  presents  to  the 
Indians  when  arriving  from  our  limits,  was,  in  effect, 
to  invite  them ;  the  amount  of  gifts  bestowed  in  the 
present  instance  was  of  slight  moment ;  it  was  the 
influence  thence  created,  and  all  collateral  conse 
quences  thence  resulting,  that  we  desired  to  avoid. 

His  lordship  remarked,  that  it  appeared  that  the 
Secretary  of  War,  had,  by  a  letter  of  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  last  August,  authorised  Governor  Cass  to 
adopt  measures  for  putting  a  stop  to  the  intercourse 
in  future ;  and  added  that  it  would  be  highly  agree 
able  to  His  Majesty's  government  if  they  proved 
successful.  The  immediate  safety  of  our  inhabitants, 
I  rejoined,  dictated  such  measures ;  but  it  must  be 
obvious  at  what  expense  to  the  United  States  they 
would  have  to  be  adopted,  when  the  Indians  came 
to  understand  that  we  intended  thus  to  cut  them  off 
from  their  presents;  whereas,  the  presents  being 
withheld,  there  would  be  no  motive  to  the  inter 
course.  I  therefore  felt  sure,  that  my  government 
would  indulge  the  hope  that  the  past  policy  of  His 
Majesty's  government  in  this  respect,  would  be 
reconsidered  and  abandoned.  So  the  subject  was 
left  for  that  occasion. 

March  30.  Yesterday  I  attended  the  funeral  of 
Mr.  West.  It  proceeded  from  Somerset  House  to 

St.  Paul's,  where  the  interment  took  place,  and  was 

24* 


282  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1820. 

a  public  funeral  by  desire  of  the  Royal  Academy,  of 
which  the  deceased  was  President.  It  was  under 
stood  that  the  King's  desire  was  the  same,  His  Majes 
ty  being  patron  of  the  Institution.  It  was  therefore 
conducted  under  the  immediate  superintendence  of 
the  Royal  Academy.  Between  forty  and  fifty  mourn 
ing  coaches,  the  horses  of  each  having  covers  of 
black  velvet  over  them,  made  part  of  the  train. 
There  were  the  usual  ceremonies  in  other  respects 
of  a  funeral  of  this  description  in  London;  such  as 
marshalmen  and  cloakmen  on  horseback,  (the  cloaks 
all  black,)  mutes,  and  pages.  The  hearse  was  drawn 
by  six  horses  covered  with  black  velvet;  and  the 
mourning  coaches  being  also  entirely  black,  as  well 
as  the  horses,  the  harness,  and  all  the  feathers  and 
plumes,  gave  a  solemn  air  to  this  pomp  for  the  dead. 
The  effect  of  the  whole  was  heightened  as  the  corpse 
was  slowly  borne  into  the  immense  cathedral  of  St. 
Paul's,  pronounced  the  most  imposing  edifice  for  size 
and  grandeur,  reared  in  Europe  by  Protestant  hands. 
Mr.  West  being  a  native  of  my  country,  I  was  in 
vited  by  the  council  and  officers  of  the  Royal  Acad 
emy  to  the  funeral,  as  a  pall-bearer,  and  attended 
in  that  capacity.  The  other  pall-bearers  were,  the 
Earl  of  Aberdeen,  Sir  William  Scott,*  Sir  George 
Beaumont,  General  Phipps,  the  Honorable  Augustus 
Phipps,  Sir  Thomas  Baring,  and  Sir  Robert  Wilson. 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Stowel. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  283 

When  the  body  reached  the  choir,  the  bier  was  set 
down  and  an  anthem  sung.  It  was  then  conveyed 
to  the  vault  door,  attended  by  the  pall-bearers  and 
mourners,  and  interred  next  to  that  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  the  funeral  church-service  being  perform 
ed,  at  the  perforated  brass  plate  under  the  centre  of 
the  dome.  The  chief  officiating  clergyman,  was 
the  Reverend  Gerald  Valerian  Wellesley,  brother  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Altogether,  the  scene  was 
of  much  solemnity,  and  attested  the  honors  paid 
by  this  distinguished  Society  to  departed  genius. 
Large  and  distinguished  portions  of  the  society  of 
London  responded  to  the  feeling  which  dictated 
them,  as  was  manifested  by  the  private  carriages 
belonging  to  the  nobility  and  others,  seen  in  the 
procession,  which  exceeded  the  mourning  coaches  in 
number.* 

Two  of  the  mourning  coaches  were  appropriated 
to  the  pall-bearers.  The  one  in  which  I  was,  con 
veyed  also  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  Sir  William  Scott, 
and  General  Phipps.  The  first,  besides  his  emi 
nence  as  a  statesman,  is  distinguished  by  attain 
ments  in  the  arts;  a  testimonial  of  which  is,  his 
classical  treatise  on  architecture  prefixed  to  an  edition 
of  Vitruvius,  written  during  or  after  his  travels  in 
Greece.  The  slow  pace  of  the  procession  until  we 

*  George  III.  allowed  Mr.  West  a  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year,  and 
had  paid  him  forty  thousand  pounds  for  the  encouragement  of  the  fine  arts. 


284  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1820. 

arrived  at  the  Cathedral,  was  favourable  to  quiet 
conversation.  The  crowd  along  the  Strand,  and  in 
passing  Temple  Bar,  was  very  great.  The  appear 
ance  of  the  streets  served  to  call  up  historical  recol 
lections  :  as  when  Charles  II.  passed  along  the  same 
streets  thronged  with  multitudes,  at  the  restoration, 
and  when  the  French  King  was  led  through  them, 
as  the  captive  of  Edward  III.  Sir  William  Scott, 
who  recalled  these  things,  alluded  also  to  the  famous 
fracas  which  took  place  in  this  line  of  street  a  couple 
of  centuries  ago  between  the  retinue  of  the  Spanish 
and  French  ambassadors,  on  a  strugle  for  precedence, 
when  the  traces  of  the  carriages  of  the  latter  were  cut 
by  the  servants  of  the  former — an  incident  familiar 
to  diplomatic  literature.  The  late  revolution  in 
Spain  favorable  to  the  constitution  of  1812,  being 
spoken  of,  General  Phipps  remarked,  that  it  had 
moved  along  with  great  tranquillity.  Sir  William, 
pausing  a  moment,  replied — AS  YET.  The  classical 
brevity  of  this  great  civilian,  is  known ;  and  equally, 
that  he  is  not  very  partial  to  popular  government.  I 
found  that  both  he  and  Lord  Aberdeen  had  been 
reading  Mr.  Walsh's  book.  They  said  that  it  con 
tained  much  information.  Sir  William  asked  what 
pursuit  Mr.  Walsh  was  engaged  in.  I  said  none, 
that  I  knew  of,  being,  I  believed,  in  easy  circum 
stances.  As  the  Cathedral  came  in  full  view,  he 
remarked,  that  he  understood  that  the  edifices  in 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  285 

England  which  made  most  impression  upon  Ameri 
cans,  were  the  Gothic,  as  we  had  none  in  the  United 
States ;  none  at  least  that  were  ancient.  I  replied, 
that  such  was  probably  the  case ;  he  then  remarked, 
that  although  we  had  no  antiquities  among  us,  we 
had  a  long  race  to  run,  which  he  hoped  would  prove 
fortunate.  I  said  that  we  were  proud  of  the  stock 
we  came  from;  on  which  Lord  Aberdeen  threw  in 
the  courteous  quotation,  Matre  pulchra  filia  pulchrior. 
As  we  entered  the  Cathedral,  the  procession  halt 
ing  a  moment,  Sir  William,  next  to  wrhom  I  stood, 
cast  his  eye  around,  and  in  a  low  voice  cited  the 
celebrated  inscription  which  appears  in  it,  to  Sir 
Christopher  Wren,  "  Si  queris  monumentum,  cir- 
cumspice."  He  added,  that  Sir  Christopher  was 
one  of  their  greatest  men,  a  great  mathematician  as 
well  as  architect,  besides  having  various  other  merits. 

March  31.  In  the  course  of  a  communication  to 
the  Secretary  of  State  of  this  date,  I  mention  two 
recent  trials  at  law,  which,  from  their  connexion 
with  public  events,  and  public  feeling,  seemed  to 
claim  a  passing  notice.  One  was  that  of  Mr.  Henry 
Hunt,  a  Reformer,  and  popular  leader  of  the  day. 
He  had  acted  as  chairman  of  a  great  public  meeting 
held  near  Manchester  last  August,  to  disperse  which 
the  military  were  called  out  in  aid  of  the  civil 
authority,  and  lives  lost.  He  was  tried  at  York 


286  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

tinder  charges  of  a  riot  and  conspiracy,  and  for  as 
sembling  an  unlawful  multitude  with  a  view  to  stir 
up  hatred  and  contempt  against  the  constitution  and 
government.  The  trial  lasted  nine  days,  was  said 
to  have  been  impartial,  and  ended  in  his  conviction 
on  the  third  charge,  the  jury  acquitting  him  of  the 
rest. 

The  other  trial  was  that  of  Sir  Francis  Burdett, 
also  a  popular  leader  of  high  personal  standing,  a 
member  of  Parliament,  and  an  ancient  Baronet  of 

large  estate.  Being  at  his  seat  in  Leicestershire 
in  August,  when  the  news  of  what  had  happened  at 
the  Manchester  meeting  reached  him,  he  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  electors  of  Westminster,  whose  repre 
sentative  he  was  in  the  House  of  Commons,  con 
demning  in  sharp  and  inflammatory  terms  the  con 
duct  of  the  government.  It  was  on  some  parts  of 
this  letter  that  the  prosecution  was  founded;  which 
took  the  shape  of  an  ex  officio  information  against 
him  for  a  libel  tending  to  bring  the  government  into 
contempt  and  excite  sedition.  The  trial  was  held  at 
Leicester,  his  own  county,  and  resulted  in  his  con 
viction.  Sir  Francis  conducted  his  own  defence 
with  his  usual  ability  and  spirit.  Both  defendants 
were  punished  by  the  court,  by  fine  and  imprison 
ment. 

April  13.     Had  an  interview  with  Lord  Bathurst 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  287 

at  the  colonial  office.  It  related  to  fresh  disputes 
between  officers  of  our  squadron  in  the  Mediter 
ranean,  and  British  officers  of  the  garrison  at  Gib 
raltar. 

His  lordship  said  that  he  had  requested  me  to  call 
for  the  purpose  of  some  conversation  on  this  subject, 
and  especially  to  inform  me  that  the  order  which 
Governor  Don,  the  British  commander  in  chief  at  the 
garrison,  had  issued,  forbidding  the  squadron  to  enter 
the  port  in  consequence  of  these  disputes,  had  not 
been  ratified  by  His  Majesty's  government,  but  on 
the  contrary  would  be  revoked.  But  he  added,  that 
being  sincerely  anxious  for  the  restoration  of  har 
mony  between  our  respective  officers,  he  thought  that 
the  interdict  had  perhaps  better  not,  in  prudence,  be 
recalled,  until  after  the  lapse  of  some  little  interval — 
a  month  or  two  he  intimated — that  feeling  on  each 
side  might  have  time  to  cool.  He  handed  me  the 
correspondence  between  Governor  Don  and  Captain 
Brown,  of  our  sloop  the  Peacock,  in  March,  which 
treats  of  the  disputes,  and  particularly  of  the  duel 
between  lieutenant  Downing,  of  the  frigate  Guerriere, 
and  lieutenant  Smith  of  the  garrison.  His  lordship 
desired  to  be  understood  as  having  no  complaints  to 
allege  on  behalf  of  his  government,  and  expressed 
regret  that  Governor  Don,  who  had  acted  from  the 
best  motives,  had  not  been  furnished  with  a  copy  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  court  martial  by  which  Mr. 


288  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

Downing  had  been  acquitted.  He  concluded  by 
referring  to  the  letter  addressed  by  the  Navy  De 
partment  to  Commodore  Stewart,  by  order  of  the 
President,  in  September  last,  (the  same  which  I  read 
to  Lord  Castlereagh)  respecting  the  former  duels;  a 
copy  of  which  had  also  reached  this  government 
through  Governor  Don.  His  lordship  said,  that  the 
sentiments  of  the  President,  so  appropriate  and  con 
ciliatory,  had  made  upon  His  Majesty  the  impression 
they  were  justly  calculated  to  produce,  and  requested 
that  I  would  convey  this  assurance  to  my  govern 
ment. 

April  15.  Dined  at  the  Middle  Temple,  with  Mr. 
George  Joy,  formerly  of  Boston.  It  was  a  bachelor's 
dinner.  The  room  in  which  we  dined,  claimed  the 
double  distinction  of  having  been  the  one  in  which 
Rogers  wrote  the  "Pleasures  of  Memory,"  and 
which  the  late  Lord  Chief  Justice  Ellenborough 
occupied  when  at  the  Bar. 

General  Sir  George  Walker,  Mr.  S.  Williams  of 
Boston,  and  Mr.  J.  Adams  Smith,  the  Secretary 
of  my  Legation,  were  our  party.  The  first  had 
served  in  the  wars  of  the  Peninsula,  under  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  and  was  at  the  storming  of 
Badajoz  in  1812.  His  brigade  was  of  nine  hun 
dred  strong,  and  more  than  half  fell.  The  remain 
der  mounted  the  bastion  from  the  river  side,  by 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  289 

ladders,  and  were  among  the  successful.  These 
were  some  particulars  which  he  mentioned  of  that 
fearful  night,  for  it  was  a  night  assault.  The  whole 
loss  to  the  British  army,  he  stated  at  about  five  thou 
sand,  including  three  hundred  officers.  Sir  George 
himself  received  a  musket  ball  in  his  body,  and  five 
bayonet  wounds.  His  shattered  frame  sufficiently 
bespoke  how  he  had  suffered,  but  he  seemed  to 
have  lost  none  of  the  animation  of  his  mind. 

Until  this  occasion,  I  was  under  an  impression 
that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  never  was  wounded; 
but  Sir  George  Walker  said,  that  not  long  after  the 
storming  of  Badajoz,  he  was  struck  by  a  random 
musket  ball  in  the  side,  in  an  affair  with  the  French 
on  the  borders  of  France.  It  was  merely  a  slight 
wound,  and  was  dressed  on  the  spot.  The  Duke, 
on  receiving  it,  exclaimed,  "Hit  at  last,"  and  seemed 
pleased. 

April  18.  Dined  at  Lord  Harrowby's,  who  enter 
tained  the  diplomatic  corps.  If  Mr.  Joy's  dining- 
room  was  immortalized  by  the  "  Pleasures  of  Mem 
ory,"  his  Lordship's  dining-room  came  near  to  gaining 
a  very  different  kind  of  immortality ;  it  being  the  one 
in  which  the  cabinet  were  to  have  dined  with  him  on 
the  evening  that  Thistlewood  had  fixed  upon  for  mur 
dering  them  all.  This  was  not  overlooked  in  our 
conversation;  but  we  had  other  and  more  cheerful 

25 


290  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1820. 

topics.  Among  the  varieties  of  wine,  we  had  hock 
of  the  vintage  of  1648,  of  which  it  was  remarked 
by  our  accomplished  host,  that  King  Charles  might 
have  drank  it. 

April  20.  Dined  at  Lord  Castlereagh' s.  We  had 
the  diplomatic  corps,  and  several  foreigners  of  dis 
tinction. 

His  lordship  informed  me,  that  he  had  mentioned 
to  Count  Lieven,  the  Russian  Ambassador,  the  desire 
of  our  two  countries  to  ask  the  friendly  umpirage  of 
his  sovereign,  respecting  the  contested  point  between 
us  under  the  Treaty  of  Ghent;  and  that  the  Count  had, 
within  a  few  days,  shown  him  a  dispatch  from  Count 
Nesselrode,  by  which  it  appeared,  that  the  Emperor 
would  probably  not  object  to  lending  himself  to  the 
joint  wish  of  the  two  nations.  His  lordship  added, 
that  Mr.  Bagot,  who  is  expected  to  set  out  on  his 
embassy  in  about  a  month,  would  be  instructed  to 
make  the  proper  application  to  the  Emperor,  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain,  as  soon  as  the  Minister  of  the 
United  States  at  St.  Peter sburgh  was  prepared  to 
unite  in  it.  I  replied,  that  Mr.  Campbell  had 
already  been,  as  I  believed,  instructed  to  do  so ;  on 
which  his  lordship  remarked,  that  he  was  not  aware 
of  any  other  steps  necessary  for  either  party  to  take 
at  present. 

The  minister  from  *******  told  me  that  the 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  291 

Ottoman  Porte  had  recently  been  supplying  Algiers 
with  additional  munitions  of  war,  and  avows  a  de 
termination  to  protect  the  Barbary  States;  and  that 
this  determination  would  restrain  the  European 
Alliance  from  any  measures  of  immediate  coercion 
against  those  states.  I  asked,  Why  restrain  ?  He 
answered,  that  the  Sovereigns  probably  had  it  in 
mind  to  hold  the  Porte  iiltimately  responsible  for 
such  a  line  of  policy. 

April  22.  Dined  at  Mr.  Robinson's,  Somerset- 
Place.  Besides  Mr.  Robinson,  we  had,  of  the 
Cabinet,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer — Mr.  Van- 
sittart;  the  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster — 
Mr.  C.  Bathurst;  and  Lord  Mulgrave;  also,  Sir 
William  Grant,  late  Master  of  the  Rolls ;  Mr.  Planta; 
Mr,  Hobhouse,  of  the  Home  Department ;  Mr.  An- 
gerstein,  and  other  gentlemen ;  and  the  presence  of 
Lady  Sara,h  Robinson,  and  other  ladies,  added  to  the 
attractions  of  the  table. 

In  the  course  of  the  evening,  conversation  turned 
on  the  Cato  street  conspiracy,  the  trial  of  the  offen 
ders  being  in  progress  at  the  Old  Bailey,  and  two  of 
them,  Thistlewood  and  Ings,  having  been  convicted 
of  high  treason.  What  follows,  was  mentioned  in 
connexion  with  this  plot,  namely :  that  as  soon  as 
the  precise  knowledge  of  it  came  to  the  ears  of  the 
Cabinet,  through  the  disclosures  made  to  Lord  Har- 


292  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

rowby  in  the  Park,  the  members  met  to  determine 
upon  their  course.  Some  were  for  going  to  the 
dinner  at  Lord  Harrowby's  in  the  face  of  it  all. 
They  reasoned  thus;  that  it  seemed  so  desperate, 
that  it  would  not  be  believed,  unless  the  conspira 
tors  actually  came  to  Lord  Harrowby's  house ;  that 
they,  therefore,  ought  to  be  allowed  to  do  so,  if  such 
were  really  their  intention;  otherwise,  the  public 
might  have  room  to  say  that  the  Ministers  had  been 
over  credulous,  and  disposed  to  make  the  plot  ap 
pear  so  very  horrible,  only  to  excite  indignation, 
and  gain  strength  by  suppressing  it;  and  as  to  their 
personal  safety,  that  might  be  secured  by  arming 
themselves,  in  addition  to  stationing  proper  guards 
in  and  near  the  house ;  and  that  the  latter  also, 
would  be  the  most  certain  way  of  capturing  the 
whole  of  the  conspirators,  so  that  none  might  escape. 
Those  who  took  a  different  view  of  the  subject 
said,  that  His  Majesty's  Ministers  being  in  posses 
sion  of  evidence  to  satisfy  reasonable  men,  that  a 
guilty  purpose  existed,  they  ought  not  to  wait  for 
the  consummation  of  the  crime,  but  arrest  it  in  its 
progress;  that  public  justice,  and  even  humanity 
itself,  dictated  this  course,  as  life  might  be  endan 
gered,  no  matter  what  precautions  were  taken  be 
fore-hand,  if  the  conspirators  were  allowed  to  go  on 
to  the  last  step;  that  Ministers,  conscious  of  the 
rectitude  of  their  intentions,  and  not  acting  hastily 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  293 

but  on  full  deliberation  and  advice,  must  not  regard 
public  clamor,  but  consign  the  whole  transaction  to 
the  judicial  tribunals  of  the  country  without  any 
delay  that  could  be  avoided,  and  abide  the  issue. 

This  is  the  course  which  it  is  known  was  adopted. 
It  was  further  mentioned,  that  Lord  Castlereagh  was 
for  going  to  the  dinner  in  the  face  of  it  all  at  the 
hour  invited,  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  and  letting 
each  gentleman  arm  himself  if  he  thought  proper ; 
whilst  the  Duke  of  Wellington  counselled  to  the 
course  which  was  adopted. 

Mr.  Robinson's  residence  is  in  one  of  the  build 
ings  within  the  quadrangle  of  Somerset  House. 
When  we  had  gone  up  to  coffee,  I  approached  with 
some  of  the  company  one  of  the  back  windows  of  the 
drawing-room  which  overlooks  the  Thames,  where 
you  here  see  three  of  the  great  bridges,  Waterloo, 
Black-friars,  and  Westminster.  All  were  well  light 
ed  up,  which  makes  this  city  view  very  striking  by 
night,  to  those  who  see  it  for  the  first  time. 


25* 


294  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


VISIT  FROM  MR.  WILBERFORCE — THE  SLAVE  TRADE — 

PIRACY IMPRESSMENT.    CATO  STREET  CONSPIRACY 

— FIVE  OF  THE  CONSPIRATORS  CONVICTED  AND  EXE 
CUTED.  DROITS  OF  THE  CROWN.  DINNER  AT  LORD 
MELVILLE'S — DEATH  OF  COMMODORE  DECATUR.  VISIT 
TO  THE  ROYAL  ARSENAL  AT  WOOLWICH.  ARRIVAL 
OF  THE  QUEEN,  LATE  PRINCESS  OF  WALES,  AT  DOVER. 
SPECIAL  AUDIENCE  OF  THE  KING.  DINNER  AT  PRINCE 
LEOPOLD'S.  DINNER  AT  LORD  CASTLEREAGH'S — UN 
USUAL  INCIDENTS  AT  IT.  THE  KING'S  LEVEE — CON 
VERSATION  WITH  MR.  CANNING  ON  THE  PUBLIC 
SPEAKING  IN  THE  TWO  HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT. 
DINNER  AT  MR.  CANNING^. 


April  24.  To-day  I  had  a  visit  from  Mr.  Wilber- 
force.  He  touched  upon  several  subjects,  amongst 
them,  Mr.  Walsh's  book.  I  found  that  he  did  not 
like  the  parts  about  slavery,  and  so  expressed  him 
self,  in  regret  rather  than  censure.  I  remarked  that 
I  thought  allowances  were  to  be  made  for  us  on  that 
subject,  considering  the  history  of  it  from  the  day 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  295 

we  were  part  of  the  British  empire.  He  asked 
where  Mr.  Walsh  received  his  education.  I  told 
him  in  the  United  States.  He  admitted  that  he  was 
a  man  of  abilities. 

I  asked  him  if  there  was  no  philanthropist  in 
England  disposed,  at  this  season  of  general  peace, 
to  exert  himself  for  the  abolition  of  privateering,  as 
he  had  done  to  put  down  the  slave  trade.  He 
replied  that  civilization  and  Christianity  seemed 
equally  to  call  for  it.  I  said,  let  England,  as  the 
greatest  maritime  power,  set  the  example,  and  other 
nations  would  follow. 

I  next  asked,  and  is  there  no  man  among  you 
willing  to  devote  himself  to  another  labor  of  human 
ity,  the  abolition  of  impressment?  He  joined  in 
lamenting  the  evils  to  which  it  led,  and  said  that  he 
had  hoped  Sir  Thomas  Ackland  would  take  it  up  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  I  said  that  if  an  end  were 
put  to  it  in  England,  as  a  home  measure,  an  im 
mense  good  would  follow  internationally,  by  the 
extinction  of  a  cause  of  dissension,  the  most  formida 
ble  that  could  exist,  between  our  two  countries.  He 
rejoined  that  it  was  deeply  important  under  that 
view. 

After  Mr.  Wilberforce  left  me,  I  called  on  Sir 
Thomas  Lawrence,  (who  had  recently  returned 
from  the  continent,)  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
information  respecting  the  portrait  of  Mr.  West, 


296  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

He  remarked,  that  the  death  of  Mr.  West  would  not 
rob  the  picture  of  any  advantage,  the  likeness  hav 
ing  been  complete  as  far  as  he  could  render  it  so, 
before  he  died.  He  further  said,  that  the  last  injunc 
tion  he  had  received  from  Mr.  West  before  setting 
out  upon  his  tour  was,  "  on  no  account  to  touch  the 
head  again,"  "  the  venerable  President  being  pleased 
to  add,"  contiued  Sir  Thomas,  that  it  was  "  already 
perfect." 

Should  these  last  lines  ever  chance  to  meet  the 
eye  of  any  member  of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  in 
New  York,  whose  walls  I  suppose  still  to  be  graced 
with  this  portrait  of  so  distinguished  a  native  son  of 
America,  it  may  not  be  unwelcome  to  him  thus  to 
know  what  Mr.  West's  own  opinion  of  it  was,  as 
thus  expressed  to  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  before  he 
died. 

April  28.  Parliament  was  opened  yesterday  by  the 
King  in  person.  I  attended  under  the  usual  notice 
to  the  foreign  ministers  from  the  Master  of  Cere 
monies.  The  speech  was  general  in  its  terms;  so 
much  so  that  the  address  to  the  throne  in  reply  to  it, 
passed  both  Houses  without  opposition.  The  new 
House  of  Commons  is  considered  to  be  as  favorable 
to  the  ministry  as  the  last,  if  not  more  so. 

April  29.     In  my  dispatch  to  the   Secretary  of 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  297 

State  I  mention,  as  marking  the  end  of  the  Cato 
street  conspiracy,  that  five  of  the  conspirators,  in 
cluding  Thistlewood  the  ringleader,  had  been  con 
victed  of  high  treason;  that  the  remainder,  six  in 
number,  had  pleaded  guilty ;  and  that  the  five  con 
victed  by  the  jury  had  confessed,  after  conviction, 
that  it  was  their  intention  to  murder  the  Ministers. 
Their  plan  it  seems  was,  that  if  they  had  got  to  the 
house  of  Lord  Harrowby,  some  one  of  their  number 
was  to  knock  at  the  door  with  a  note  in  his  hand, 
under  pretence  of  desiring  it  to  be  delivered  to  Lord 
Harrowby,  doing  this  in  a  manner  to  excite  no  sus 
picion  in  case  of  any  one  accidentally  passing  along 
the  pavement.  The  rest  of  the  band,  from  twenty  to 
thirty  in  number,  were  to  be  close  at  hand,  but  sub 
divided  into  squads,  the  better  to  be  out  of  view, 
which  the  night  would  have  favored.  The  servant 
opening  the  door,  was  to  have  been  instantly  knocked 
down  by  this  leader  who  carried  the  feigned  note ; 
and  the  opening  of  the  door  was  to  be  the  signal  for 
the  whole  band  to  rush  forward,  enter  the  house, 
make  for  the  dining  room,  and  had  they  found  the 
Ministers  there,  kill  the  whole  if  possible,  and  as  fast 
as  possible,  not  sparing  one,  or  even  the  servants 
who  might  have  attempted  to  obstruct  their  passage 
onward.  They  had  counted  on  the  presence  of  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  members  of  the  Cabinet  at  the  din 
ner  table.  Thistlewood  had  once  been  an  officer  in 


298  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

the  militia,  and  afterwards  for  a  short  time  in  the 
line  of  the  British  army  in  the  West  Indies,  and  was 
a  daring,  desperate  man. 

May  1.  Thistle  wood  and  four  of  the  conspirators 
are  hung. 

May  7.  Write  to  Mr.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Inform  him  that  I  will  in  future  send  for 
the  library  of  his  department,  all  the  documents  pub 
lished  by  both  Houses  of  Parliament  every  session 
according  to  his  request.  I  call  his  attention  to  the 
debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  droits  of  the 
Crown,  pointing  out  the  speech  of  Sir  James  Macin 
tosh  from  the  justice  it  renders  to  the  United  States 
at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  1812,  in  not  seiz 
ing  the  property  of  the  co-belligerent  found  within 
their  jurisdiction;  but  on  the  contrary,  allowing  six 
months  after  the  declaration  of  war  for  all  British 
merchant  ships  to  get  off,  and  afterwards  even  en 
larging  that  period;  which  Sir  James  characterized 
as  conforming  to  the  beneficent  old  common  law 
principle  of  magna  charta,  which  England,  he  said, 
had  departed  from. 

May  16.  Dined  at  Lord  Melville's,  the  first  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty.  Mr.  Rose,  British  Minister  at 
Berlin,  and  Mrs.  Rose;  the  Russian  Ambassador  and 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  299 

Countess  Lieven;  Lord  and  Lady  Binning;  Lady 
Castlereagh,  the  Ambassador  from  the  Netherlands, 
Mr.  Planta,  Mr.  Bagot,  and  others — made  the  com 
pany.  Among  the  table  ornaments,  was  a  very  beau 
tiful  representation  of  Neptune,  in  alabaster,  holding 
in  his  hand  the  trident  of  the  ocean. 

Topics  during  the  dinner  and  evening,  were  such 
as  the  new  reign  suggested.  One  other,  a  foreign 
topic,  shared  attention — the  death  of  Commodore 
Decatur ;  the  account  of  whose  fall  in  a  duel  with 
Commodore  Barren  near  Washington,  the  latter 
being  severely  wounded,  had  just  become  known 
in  London.  To  Mr.  Bagot,  who  sat  next  to  me,  I 
spoke  of  him,  lamenting  in  his  death  the  loss  of  a 
personal  friend,  and  old  school-mate,  besides  his  loss 
to  his  country.  It  was  known  to  me,  that  Mr.  Bagot 
had  made  his  acquaintance,  in  Washington,  as  well 
as  that  the  Commodore's  accomplished  wife  was 
known  to  Mrs.  Bagot.  Mr.  Bagot  spoke  of  him  in 
the  handsomest  terms,  not  for  my  ear  alone,  but  that 
of  the  company  also.  His  closing  words  were,  "All 
that  he  said  or  did,  was  ever  carried  off  with  a 
soldierly  grace."  And,  let  that  old  school-mate  and 
friend  pay  him  the  passing  tribute  of  adding,  to  words 
so  true,  that  a  lofty  patriotism  ever  animated  all  his 
thoughts  and  deeds ;  that  he  was  a  shining  example 
to  others  in  a  profession  which  he  desired  to  lift  up 
to  the  highest  pitch,  not  only  by  his  valor  and  naval 


300  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

accomplishments,  but  by  the  noble  ambition  of  intel 
lectual  improvement  in  other  fields,  which  he  seemed 
to  cherish  but  the  more  with  advancing  years ;  so 
that,  had  he  lived  longer,  his  country  might  have 
beheld  in  him  a  fame  even  more  full-orbed  than  that 
which  his  untimely  death  cut  short. 

May  17.  Attended  the  King's  levee,  though  not 
yet  having  received  my  new  letters  of  credence. 
One  of  my  objects  was  to  see  the  Duke  of  Welling 
ton,  and  endeavor  to  obtain  some  information  respect 
ing  the  course  of  education  pursued  with  the  mili 
tary  cadets  in  England,  as  far  as  the  system  was  in 
print,  or  its  rules  otherwise  made  public.  I  saw  the 
Duke,  who  said  he  was  not  sure  that  there  was  much 
in  print  on  the  subject,  but  promised  me  all  that  was 
to  be  had,  saying  there  were  no  secrets  about  it. 

May  26.  Visited  the  royal  arsenal  and  other 
military  establishments  at  Woolwich.  Taking  let 
ters  from  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  Lieutenant 
General  Ramsay,  and  to  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of 
the  Royal  Military  Academy,  I  saw  every  thing; 
and  to  far  more  advantage,  than  I  could  undertake 
to  describe  it.  The  cannon  foundry;  the  places  for 
smith's  work,  carpenter's  work,  and  for  making  car 
tridges,  bomb-shells,  grenades  and  shot ;  the  various 
machinery;  the  barracks,  and  places  for  manufactur- 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  301 

ing  Congreve  rockets;  the  boring  houses;  model 
houses — any  single  one  of  these  items,  not  to  men 
tion  others,  might  overtask  my  powers  of  minute 
description.  There  seemed  to  be  stores  and  military 
supplies  of  every  description,  for  all  the  exigencies 
of  war,  even  to  sand-bags,  fascines  and  scaling  lad 
ders,  and  whether  for  land  or  sea-service,  accumu 
lated  in  vast  heaps.  The  cannon  in  depot,  amounted 
to  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  pieces.  The 
whole  number,  it  was  said,  would  cover  fourteen 
acres.  It  is  known  that  not  only  did  the  British 
army  draw  its  supplies  from  this  great  establishment 
during  the  late  European  wars,  but  that  the  troops 
of  the  continental  powers  were  largely  supplied  also 
from  its  almost  inexhaustible  stores.  It  was  stated 
that  often,  whilst  hostilities  were  going  on,  a  million 
of  ball  cartridges  for  muskets,  w^ere  among  the 
weekly  issues  from  the  proper  workshop. 

The  party  with  me  consisted  of  Mr.  McKenzie 
and  other  gentlemen.  Rockets  were  let  off,  about  a 
dozen  in  number,  under  the  direction  of  Sir  William 
Congreve,  that  we  might  see  the  effect  of  horizontal 
firing  with  them.  Those  designed  to  be  thrown  into 
towns,  or  otherwise  to  produce  a  conflagration,  were 
in  part  composed  of  combustibles,  prepared  by  Dr. 
McCulloch,  the  chemist  of  the  establishment,  which 
are  scarcely  to  be  extinguished  by  water,  resembling 
in  this  respect  the  old  Greek  fire.  One  was  ignited 

26 


302  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

for  our  inspection,  upon  which  water  was  thrown 
without  putting  out  the  flame.  Some  of  the  artil 
lery  were  exercised,  daily,  in  firing  at  a  target  with 
ball  cartridge.  The  artillery,  now  reduced  to  seven 
or  eight  thousand,  had  amounted  to  thirty  thousand 
during  the  war.  The  wood  work  for  the  carriages 
and  other  apparatus,  was  of  oak,  ash  or  elm.  We 
visited  the  range  of  stables  where  the  artillery  horses 
were  kept.  They  were  fine  looking  animals,  and 
we  were  told  cost  the  government  about  fifty  pounds 
sterling  apiece. 

The  barracks  for  the  troops  were  extensive,  and 
seemed  highly  complete  and  comfortable.  The 
dining  room  of  the  officers,  and  two  drawing  rooms 
adjoining,  were  spacious  and  well  furnished.  An 
other  part  of  the  building  has  the  advantage  of  an 
extensive  library,  and  a  reading  room.  At  a  little 
distance  from  the  principal  barracks,  stands  a  row  of 
small  brick  houses,  all  white,  looking  very  neat. 
These  were  built  for  such  of  the  common  soldiers 
as  were  married ;  and  we  learned  that  the  number  of 
school  mistresses  attached  to  the  whole  British  army, 
for  instructing  children  born  in  the  families  of  the 
common  soldiers,  was  very  grreat. 

In  the  model  room,  we  saw  curious  weapons  of 
different  ages  and  countries.  They  were  chiefly 
brought  from  Paris  after  the  conquest  of  1814,  and 
had  been  accumulated  in  that  capital  from  all  parts 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  303 

of  the  world,  as  French  trophies.  Enough  there 
was,  to  fix  the  eye  of  the  warrior,  and  raise  reflec 
tions  in  the  moralist.  We  saw  the  armor  of  the 
Chevalier  Bayard,  and  the  identical  mask  worn  by 
the  "man  in  the  iron  mask."  The  latter  was  wholly 
closed  up  in  the  face,  except  a  small  aperture,  made 
to  open  and  shut,  through  which  food  was  intro 
duced.  In  the  same  room  was  a  plan,  upon  a  large 
scale,  of  Quebec. 

Repairing  to  the  Military  Academy,  we  were 
shown  that  part  of  the  system.  We  saw  plans 
and  drawings  of  all  kinds  of  fortifications,  and  all 
manner  of  instruments  necessary  for  carrying  on  a 
military  education.  Models  of  Gibraltar  and  Bergeri- 
op-zoom  were  in  view,  executed  in  wood,  like  that 
of  Quebec.  The  cadets  were  at  their  studies, 
sitting  at  forms  in  three  rows;  their  uniform,  blue 
faced  with  red.  Their  hours  of  study,  in  presence 
of  a  professor,  were  from  nine  until  twelve  in  the 
forenoon,  and  from  three  until  five  in  the  afternoon. 
A  lieutenant-governor,  an  inspector,  and  four  profess 
ors,  were  the  officers  of  the  Institution.  The  cadets 
receive  from  government  two  shillings  and  six-pence 
sterling  a  day,  which  supplies  them  with  clothes  and 
pocket  money,  and  in  all  other  respects  are  found  by 
the  Institution.  The  situation  is  in  much  request, 
and  the  Institution  contained  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  cadets.  Besides  their  own  exercises  in  the  field, 


304  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

they  have  the  advantage,  from  being  close  to  the  Royal 
Artillerists  at  the  barracks,  of  witnessing  all  the  evo 
lutions  of  the  latter.  The  Military  Academy  at  Sand 
hurst,  designed  chiefly  for  the  sons  of  British  officers 
who  fall  in  battle,  or  otherwise  perish  in  the  service, 
contained,  we  were  informed,  about  three  hundred 
cadets,  and  fifteen  or  twenty  teachers.  The  branches 
taught  at  each  were  much  the  same,  and  consisted 
mainly  of  ancient  and  modern  history,  modern  lan 
guages,  fortification,  gunnery,  drawing,  and  mathe 
matics. 

We  finished  the  visit  by  partaking  of  a  collation 
at  the  quarters  of  Colonel  Brigham,  whose  obliging 
attentions  we  all  experienced. 

June  6.  Went  to  the  House  of  Lords,  under  a 
notice  received  from  Sir  Robert  Chester,  to  witness 
the  ceremony  of  the  King  giving  his  assent  to  some 
bills.  It  seems  that  by  ancient  usage,  the  Sovereign 
gives  his  assent,  in  person,  to  the  first  bill  which 
Parliament  passes  after  the  commencement  of  a  new 
reign.  On  this  occasion,  it  was  the  bill  establishing 
the  civil  list,  to  which  he  assented ;  and  some  others 
being  ready,  he  assented  to  them  also.  In  the  Am 
bassador's  box  we  had,  besides  the  Corps  proper, 
Count  Rostopchin,  Governor  of  Moscow  when  it  was 
burnt,  during  the  invasion  of  Napoleon,  in  1812. 
He  came  with  the  Russian  Ambassador;  and  we 


18*20.]  COURT   OF   LONDON.  305 

had  also  Prince  Lichenstien,  who   came  with  the 
Austrian  Ambassador. 

There  was  a  thinner  attendance  than  usual  of 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
about  the  Throne.  This  was  noticed  in  our  box ; 
and  there  seemed  something  of  coldness  in  the  whole 
ceremony ;  for  which,  perhaps,  the  Queen's  arrival 
at  Dover  yesterday,  served  to  account. 

June  14.  Had  a  special  audience  of  the  King  to 
deliver  my  new  credentials.  I  had  written  to  Lord 
Castlereagh  to  ask  it,  and  his  answer  appointed  to 
day,  of  which  I  informed  the  Master  of  Ceremonies. 
The  latter  conducted  me  to  the  door  of  the  audience 
room  in  the  Palace.  The  King  was  attended  by 
Lord  Bathurst.  I  delivered  the  President's  auto 
graph  letter  to  His  Majesty,  using  much  the  same 
language  as  when  delivering  my  credentials  to  him 
as  Prince  Regent,  mentioned  in  Chapter  VIII.  of  the 
former  volume,  and  was  received  in  the  same  way. 

The  new  Spanish  Ambassador,  the  Duke  de 
Frias,  also  had  his  audience  of  reception,  as  succes 
sor  to  the  Duke  of  San  Carlos,  recalled  since  the 
change  of  government  in  Spain. 

In  the  evening,  I  dined  at  Prince  Leopold's,  Marl- 
borough  House,  who  entertained  a  portion  of  the 
Diplomatic  Corps  and  other  guests ;  amongst  them, 
the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  superintended  the 

26* 


306  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

education  of  the  Princess  Charlotte.  Our  dis 
tinguished  host  dispensed  his  attentions  cordially  to 
his  company.  The  appointments  of  the  table,  were 
beautiful;  the  plate  and  other  ornaments,  having 
been  selected  for  the  heiress  presumptive  to  the 
throne  on  the  occasion  of  her  marriage  to  Prince 
Leopold. 

June  15.  Attended  the  Drawing  Room,  and  at 
seven  in  the  evening  dined  at  Lord  Castlereagh's. 
We  had  all  the  foreign  Ambassadors  and  Ministers, 
with  other  guests,  Lord  Strangford  of  the  number, 
whose  literary  accomplishments  make  him  so  well 
known. 

A  very  few  minutes  after  the  last  course,  Lord 
Castlereagh,  looking  to  his  chief  guest  for  acquies- 
ence,  made  the  signal  for  rising,  and  the  company 
all  went  into  the  drawing  rooms.  So  early  a  move 
was  unusual ;  it  seemed  to  cut  short,  unexpectedly, 
the  time  generally  given  to  conversation  at  English 
dinners,  after  the  dinner  ends.  It  was  soon  observed 
that  his  lordship  had  left  the  drawing  rooms.  This 
wras  still  more  unusual;  and  now  it  came  to  be 
whispered,  that  an  extraordinary  cause  had  pro 
duced  this  unusual  scene.  It  was  whispered  by 
one  and  another  of  the  Corps,  that  his  lordship  had 
retired  into  one  of  his  own  apartments  to  meet  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  as  his  colleague  in  the  adminis- 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  307 

tration,  and  also  Mr.  Brougham  and  Mr.  Denman, 
as  Counsel  for  the  Queen,  on  the  disputes  pending 
between  the  King  and  Queen. 

The  Queen's  arrival  in  England,  was  unexpected 
to  the  King  and  his  ministers,  and  was  well  under 
stood  to  have  been  against  the  strong  wishes  of  both. 
The  event  produced  much  excitement,  and  suspend 
ed  in  a  great  degree  the  interest  of  other  political 
topics.  As  soon  as  she  landed,  the  ministers  took 
their  measures  for  instituting  proceedings  against 
her  in  Parliament  on  the  ground  of  imputed  misbe 
havior  since  she  was  last  abroad.  She  denied  the 
imputations  and  called  for  proof.  The  proceedings 
against  her,  which  originated  in  a  message  from  the 
King  to  both  Houses,  had  actually  commenced,  but 
were  arrested  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a  portion 
of  the  members  purporting  to  be  common  friends  of 
both  King  and  Queen,  who  desired  that  a  subject  so 
unfitted  for  public  discussion,  should,  if  possible,  be 
compromised.  The  dinner  at  Lord  Castlereagh's 
was  during  this  state  of  things,  which  explains  the 
incidents  at  its  close,  the  disputes  having  pressed  with 
anxiety  on  the  King's  ministers.  That  his  lordship 
did  separate  himself  from  his  guests  for  the  purpose 
of  holding  a  conference,  in  another  part  of  his  own 
house,  in  which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  joined  him, 
as  representing  the  King,  while  Mr.  Brougham  and 
Mr.  Denman  represented  the  Queen,  was  known 


308  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1820. 

from  the  formal  protocol  afterwards  published,  of 
what  took  place  on  that  evening.  It  was  the  first  of 
the  conferences  held  with  a  view  to  a  compromise 
between  the  royal  disputants. 

June  27.  I  learn  from  a  good  source  that  the 
dissolution  of  the  late  government  at  Buenos  Ay  res, 
has  been  attended  with  circumstances  so  important 
as  to  induce  Sir  Thomas  Hardy,  the  British  naval 
officer  in  command  in  that  quarter,  to  dispatch  one 
of  the  vessels  of  his  squadron  to  England  with  a 
special  account  of  them. 

June  28.  Attend  the  levee  at  Carlton  Palace. 
Converse  with  several  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  on  the 
state  of  things  between  the  King  and  Queen.  All 
are  full  of  the  topic.  ********  says,  that  the  sen 
sibilities  of  the  King  are  intense  and  vehement;  no 
thing  can  ever  reconcile  him.  He  also  says,  that,  of 
the  royal  dukes,  ****  and  ******,  and  one  other, 
go  with  the  King;  not  so  certain  as  to  the  rest.  And 
he  adds,  that  the  Ministers,  almost  unanimously,  are 
now  satisfied,  that  there  are  grounds  to  go  upon, 
against  the  Queen.  None  of  the  Corps  dare  touch 
the  subject,  at  least  in  the  present  stage  of  it,  with 
any  of  the  Cabinet;  so  I  suppose,  it  being  none  of 
their  concern;  but  things  leak  out,  for  in  England 
every  thing  soon  becomes  known. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  309 

I  converse  with  Mr.  Canning  on  the  style  of 
speaking  in  the  House  of  Commons.  I  mention  Sir 
James  Macintosh's  remark;  he  accedes  to  it;  says  it 
is  true,  as  a  general  rule,  that  their  speaking  must 
take  conversation  as  its  basis,  rather  than  any  thing 
studied,  or  stately;  the  House  was  a  business-doing 
body,  and  the  speaking  must  conform  to  its  charac 
ter  ;  it  was  jealous  of  ornament  in  debate,  which,  if 
it  came  at  all,  must  come,  as  without  consciousness. 
There  must  be  method  also ;  but  this  should  be  felt 
in  the  effect,  rather  than  seen  in  the  manner;  no 
formal  divisions,  exordiums,  or  perorations,  as  the  old 
rhetoricians  taught,  would  do.  First,  and  last,  and 
every  where,  you  must  aim  at  reasoning ;  and  if  you 
could  be  eloquent,  you  might,  at  any  time,  but  not  at 
an  appointed  time.  Such,  in  effect,  was  what  he 
said.  Foremost  himself  as  a  speaker  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  for  his  day,  perhaps  in  its  most  brilliant 
sphere  of  oratory,  I  listened  with  interest  whilst  such 
a  master  casually  spoke  on  the  subject. 

I  spoke  of  the  House  of  Lords;  remarking,  that  in 
that  body  indeed,  I  had  anticipated  a  style  of  speak 
ing  somewhat  more  like  conversation,  not  only  from 
its  fewer  numbers,  but  component  materials;  but 
that,  to  my  observation,  its  oratory  seemed  rather 
elaborate  and  ambitious,  with  much  that  would  seem 
to  indicate  painstaking,  in  a  degree  beyond  that 
which  I  had  witnessed  in  the  House  of  Commons. 


310  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

He  acquiesced;  but  added,  that  some  of  its  chief 
speakers  had  been  formed  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
I  replied,  that  perhaps  that  might  account  for  what 
had  also  struck  me,  so  far,  in  listening  to  the  debates 
of  each  House ;  namely,  that  the  average  speaking 
among  the  peers,  was  best.  He  agreed  to  it,  as  a 
present  fact;  remarking,  that  another  reason  perhaps 
was,  that  the  House  of  Peers,  for  its  numbers,  was 
better  stocked  with  men  thoroughly  educated. 

The  day  was  hot — excessively  so,  for  England. 
The  King  seemed  to  suffer ;  he  remarked  upon  the 
heat,  to  me,  and  others.  It  is  possible,  that  other 
causes  may  have  aggravated,  in  him,  that  feeling. 
Before  he  came  into  the  entree  rooms  from  his 
closet,  ******  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  taking  me 
gently  by  the  arm,  led  me  a  few  steps,  which 
brought  us  into  the  recess  of  a  window.  "  Look,'7 
said  he.  I  looked — I  saw  nothing  but  the  velvet 
lawn,  shaded  by  trees  in  the  palace  gardens.  "  Look 
again,"  he  said.  I  did — still  my  eye  took  in  only 
another  part  of  the  same  scene.  "  Try  once  more" 
said  he,  cautiously  raising  a  finger  in  the  right 
direction.  ******  had  a  vein  of  drollery  in 
him.  I  now,  for  the  first  time,  beheld  a  peacock, 
displaying  his  plumage.  At  one  moment,  he  was  in 
full  pride,  and  displayed  it  gloriously  as  he  strutted 
along  the  lawn;  at  another,  he  would  halt,  letting  it 
droop,  as  if  dejected.  In  his  wake,  a  smaller  bird? 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  311 

of  glossy  feathers,  (a  female  as  he  declared)  followed, 
teasing  and  annoying  the  peacock,  at  every  turn. 
"  Of  what  does  that  remind  you,"  said  ##*###. 
"Ah!"  said  I,  "Honi  soit  qui  mal  y  pense"  for  I 
threw  the  King's  motto  at  him;  and  added,  that  as 
I  was  a  republican  and  he  a  monarchist,  if  he 
dreamt  any  more  of  unholy  comparisons  where 
royalty  was  concerned,  I  would  certainly  tell  upon 
him,  that  it  might  be  reported  to  his  court!  He 
quietly  drew  off  from  me,  smiling ;  and  I  afterwards 
saw  him  slyly  take  another  member  of  the  corps  to 
the  same  spot,  to  show  him  the  same  sight. 

July  10.  Dined  at  Mr.  Canning's,  Gloucester- 
Lodge.  We  had  Sir  William  Scott;  Sir  William 
Grant;  Mr.  Wilmot,  of  the  House  of  Commons;  Mr. 
Planta;  Mr.  Backhouse;  Mr.  Stratford  Canning; 
Mr.  Smith,  of  the  House  of  Commons;  Mr.  Frere, 
British  Minister  in  Spain  during  the  campaign  of 
Sir  John  Moore,  and  the  Marquis  of  Tichfield. 

The  conversation  was  in  part  literary.  Mr.  Can 
ning,  Mr.  Frere,  Sir  William  Scott,  and  Sir  Wil 
liam  Grant,  were  all  members  of  the  Literary  Club, 
so  well  known  in  Johnson's  time,  and  still  kept  up. 
Its  number  is  limited  to  forty,  and  its  meetings  are 
held  at  the  Thatched  House.  Sir  William  Scott 
was  intimate  with  Johnson,  and  one  of  his  executors. 

The   authorship   of  Junius  became  a  topic,  the 


312  RESIDENCE    AT  THE  [1820. 

death  of  George  III.  having  occasionally  revived  it. 
Most  of  the  company  held  the  belief,  or  inclined  to 
it,  that  Sir  Philip  Francis  was  the  man.  I  observed 
that  Sir  William  Scott  did  not  join  in  this  opinion, 
but  expressed  no  open  dissent.  It  seemed  with  him, 
Curia  advisare  vult!  He  remarked,  that  it  was  no 
new  thing  in  English  literature  for  the  author  of  a 
celebrated  work  to  remain  unknown ;  this  was  still 
the  case  with  the  book  entitled  "  The  Whole  Duty 
of  Man,"  written  in  the  time  of  the  Stuarts. 

Mr.  Canning  related  an  anecdote  pertinent  to  the 
topic,  derived  from  the  present  King,  when  Prince 
of  Wales.  It  was  to  the  following  effect.  The  late 
King  was  in  the  habit  of  going  to  the  theatre  once 
a  week,  at  the  time  Junius's  letters  were  appearing, 
and  had  a  page  in  his  service  of  the  name  of  Ramus. 
This  page  always  brought  the  play-bill  in  to  the 
King,  at  tea-time,  on  the  evenings  when  he  went. 
On  the  evening  before  Sir  Philip  Francis  sailed  for 
India,  Ramus  handed  to  the  King,  at  the  same  time 
when  delivering  the  play-bill,  a  note  from  Garrick  to 
Ramus,  in  which  the  former  stated  that  there  would 
be  no  more  letters  from  Junius.  This  was  found  to 
be  the  very  night  on  which  Junius  addressed  his 
laconic  note  to  Garrick,  threatening  him  with  ven 
geance.  Sir  Philip  did  embark  for  India  the  next 
morning,  and,  in  point  of  fact,  the  letters  ceased  to 
appear  from  that  day.  The  anecdote  added,  that 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  313 

there  lived  with  Sir  Philip,  at  the  time,  a  relation  of 
Ramus's,  who  sailed  in  the  morning  with  him.  The 
whole  narrative  excited  much  attention,  and  was  new 
to  most  of  the  company.  The  first  impression  it  made 
was,  not  only  that  it  went  far  towards  showing,  by 
proof  almost  direct,  that  Sir  Philip  Francis  was  the 
author,  but  that  Garrick  must  have  been  in  the 
secret. 

The  style  of  the  letters  was  criticised.  Mr.  Can 
ning  did  not  think  very  highly  of  it;  nor  did  Sir 
William  Scott,  though  not  going  as  far  in  dispraise 
as  Mr.  Canning.  Sir  William  Grant  also  said,  that 
Fox  never  admired  the  style. 

Mr.  Canning  asked  me,  if  Mr.  Walsh  would  not 
be  satisfied  with  what  the  Edinburgh  Review  had 
said  of  his  work.  Sir  William  Scott  said,  that  he 
thought  he  ought  to  be.  Sir  William  admitted  that 
he  had  read  it,  and  that  it  was  a  book  that  ought  to 
be  read.  He  expressed  no  further  opinion.  Mr. 
Canning  said  that  he  had  looked  into  it,  without  yet 
having  been  able  to  go  through  it  as  he  wished.  Sir 
William  Grant  mentioned  that  he  was  at  Quebec 
when  it  was  attacked  by  our  troops  under  Mont 
gomery,  in  '75.  He  remarked,  that  Montgomery 
had  fallen  gallantly,  but  added  that  the  attack  wTas 
very  desperate.  I  said  that  his  name  was  still  dear 
to  us ;  it  lived  in  our  patriotic  celebrations. 

We  sat  at  table  until  past  eleven,  and  I  only  give 

27 


314  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

scraps  of  the  conversation.  It  flowed  tranquilly  on, 
with  unstudied  point  and  ease  the  whole  time,  from 
a  company,  than  which  it  would,  perhaps,  not  have 
been  easy  to  assemble  in  England,  one  of  the  same 
size,  comprising  more  of  intellectual  power,  in  union 
with  personal  accomplishments. 

July  12.  Went  with  my  family  last  night  to  see 
the  Comedy  of  Errors.  We  were  in  the  private  box 
of  Mr.  Coutts.  Jones  and  Comer  performed  the  two 
Antipholis',  and  Liston  and  Farren  the  two  Dromios. 
Miss  Stephens  gave  us  the  echo  song. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  315 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


INTERVIEW  WITH    LORD    CASTLEREAGH    ON    THE    WEST 

INDIA  TRADE,  AND  OTHER  SUBJECTS.  UMPIRAGE  OF 
THE  EMPEROR  OF  RUSSIA,  UNDER  THE  DISPUTED 
ARTICLE  OF  THE  TREATY  OF  GHENT.  DINNER  AT 
THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON'S;  AT  LORD  CASTLE- 
REACH'S;  AT  MR.  PLANTA'S;  AT  THE  DUKE  OF  SUS 
SEX'S.  THE  DISPUTE  BETWEEN  THE  KING  AND 
QUEEN.  REVOLUTION  IN  SPAIN.  COURSE  OF  THE 
BRITISH  GOVERNMENT  IN  RELATION  TO  IT. 

July  13.  Had  an  interview  with  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  at  his  house,  St.  James's  street.  It  was  for 
the  purpose  of  expressing  to  him  the  sentiments  of 
my  Government,  in  regard  to  the  commercial  inter 
course  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
West  Indies,  and  North  American  Colonies.  I  said 
that  after  the  unfortunately  abortive  discussions 
between  the  two  countries  on  this  subject,  it  might 
seem  almost  superfluous  to  recur  to  it  again;  but 
that  I  had  the  instructions  of  my  Government  to  do 
so.  I  was  merely  told  to  reiterate  assurances,  that 


316  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [18*20. 

the  supplementary  act  of  Congress,  passed  on  the 
15th  of  May,  with  a  view  to  render  more  complete 
the  prohibitions  which  the  United  States  had  found 
it  necessary  to  impose  on  this  intercourse,  had  been 
adopted  in  no  unfriendly  spirit,  but  solely  in  the 
hope  of  securing  to  their  citizens,  that  equal  share  of 
the  shipping  employed  in  the  trade,  which  substan 
tial  reciprocity  was  thought  to  call  for;  and  that 
whenever  a  disposition  was  felt  by  His  Majesty's 
Government,  to  allow  this  object  to  be  secured  to  us 
by  a  commercial  arrangement  between  the  two  coun 
tries,  it  would  be  met  by  the  President  with  an 
earnest  wish  to  substitute  a  system  of  the  most 
liberal  intercourse,  in  place  of  the  interdictions  by 
statute,  to  which  we  had  finally,  though  with  reluc 
tance,  had  recourse. 

His  lordship  replied,  that  no  unfriendly  policy  on 
our  part,  was  inferred  by  His  Majesty's  Government 
from  the  measure  in  question.  Far  from  it.  It  was 
considered  simply  as  a  commercial  regulation  of  our 
own,  adopted  to  meet  theirs,  and  in  nowise  incom 
patible  with  the  relations  of  harmony  subsisting 
between  the  two  nations,  which  he  hoped  might 
long  continue. 

I  now  introduced  the  subject  of  the  design  imput 
ed  to  France  to  erect  a  throne  at  Buenos  Ayres,  and 
place  a  Prince  of  the  Bourbon  line  upon  it.  I  said 
that  I  had  no  information  from  my  Government  on 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  317 

this  subject ;  but  that  if  the  accounts  were  well- 
founded,  I  knew  how  my  Government  and  country 
would  deplore  such  a  course  on  the  part  of  France. 
His  lordship  replied,  that  it  was  a  total  surprise  upon 
England;  that  the  Cabinet  had  heard  nothing  of  it 
until  very  recently,  and  were  still  willing  to  hope 
that  it  might  not  prove  true  in  the  extent  stated ; 
otherwise  it  showed  a  spirit  of  intrigue  which  he 
had  hoped,  had  gone  out  of  fashion  among  nations. 
It  was  the  more  strange  in  the  eyes  of  England,  as 
it  had  been  going  on,  if  true,  at  the  very  time  when 
the  Foreign  Enlistment  Bill  was  brought  before  Par 
liament.  I  remarked  upon  the  difference  between 
the  course  of  the  United  States  and  France ;  for 
that  whilst  we  had  expressly  disclaimed  all  intention 
of  accepting  any  special  advantages  over  other  na 
tions  from  the  new  South  American  communities,  it 
appeared,  if  the  accounts  were  true,  that  France  was 
for  appropriating  every  advantage  to  herself.  He 
admitted  that  the  disclosures  wore  that  appearance, 
but  again  expressed  the  hope  that  they  might  not 
prove  well  founded. 

I  mentioned  to  his  lordship  before  coming  away, 
the  arrival  of  Mr.  Middleton  in  London,  on  his  way 
to  St.  Petersburg,  as  successor  to  Mr.  Campbell,  our 
present  Minister  at  that  court,  who  was  about  to 
retire  from  the  mission  at  his  own  request;  and 
asked  leave  to  introduce  him  to  his  lordship  at 

27* 


318  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

any  time  when  convenient ;  on  which  he  named  the 
day  following. 

July  14.  Call  on  Lord  Castlereagh  with  Mr.  Mid- 
dleton.  After  the  introduction,  Mr.  Middleton  men 
tioned  his  desire  to  arrange  with  the  aid  of  my 
instrumentality,  should  any  correspondence  or  other 
official  acts  with  His  Majesty's  Government  be 
required,  (he  not  being  accredited  to  the  English 
court,)  such  preliminary  points  respecting  the  um- 
pirage  at  St.  Petersburg  on  the  slave  question  under 
the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  as  might  be  necessary  to  bring 
it  before  the  Emperor  for  his  decision.  His  lordship 
expressed  his  readiness  to  forward  whatever  objects 
Mr.  Middleton  had  in  view,  that  could  be  effected 
here;  and  it  need  scarcely  be  added,  that  my  co 
operation  whenever  it  could  in  any  way  be  rendered 
useful,  was  as  fully  tendered. 

July  15.  Dined  at  the  Duke  of  Wellington's. 
The  Rt.  Hon.  W.  W.  Pole,  of  the  Cabinet,  and  Mrs. 
Pole;  Lady  Ann  Cullen  Smith;  Colonel  Percy; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Patterson,  of  Baltimore,  and  Miss 
Caton,  of  Annapolis;  the  Duchess  of  Wellington ;  my 
wife;  the  Reverend  Gerald  Wellesley,  and  other 
gentlemen,  were  of  the  company. 

We  went  to  dinner  punctually  a  few  minutes  after 


18*20.]  COURT   OF   LONDON.  319 

seven,  and  what  follows  passed  at  table,  or  after 
wards  in  the  drawing  room. 

Speaking  of  the  Royal  Military  Academy  at 
Woolwich,  when  I  alluded  to  my  visit  there,  under 
the  Duke's  obliging  auspices,  he  said  that  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  cadets,  a  number  which  to  me  had 
appeared  small  for  the  whole  British  army,  were 
found  enough ;  as  it  was  only  for  the  artillery  and 
engineers  that  the  Academy  educated  young  men. 
The  Military  School  at  Sandhurst,  was  designed,  he 
said,  for  young  men  who  went  into  the  line.  The 
establishment  at  Woolwich  he  thought,  on  the  whole, 
as  complete  as  any  one  of  a  similar  nature  known  to 
him  in  Europe.  Speaking  of  the  Russian  army,  he 
said  that  it  might  probably  be  put  down  at  from 
eight  to  nine  hundred  thousand  men,  and  its  annual 
expense  at  about  nine  millions  sterling.  The  Rus 
sian  soldiers,  he  added,  were  now  well  fed,  well  cloth 
ed,  and  well  found  in  all  respects.  He  remarked 
that  the  British  army  was  the  most  expensive  in 
Europe,  and  the  Dutch  next. 

General  Moreau  was  spoken  of,  who  fell  at  Dres 
den.  I  said  that  when  he  was  in  the  United  States, 
I  had  once  passed  an  evening  in  his  company;  and 
that  he  spoke  of  his  sensations  of  delight  on  gaining 
his  first  victory,  saying  that  he  then  "  felt  on  a  level 
with  his  profession."  The  Duke  remarked,  that 
were  he  to  speak  of  his  feelings  when  it  had  been 


320  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

his  fortune  to  gain  a  battle,  he  would  say,  that  they 
had  generally  been  painful;  for  there  was  grief,  for 
those  who  had  fallen ;  and  next,  it  imposed  instantly 
the  necessity  of  doing  more,  as  no  commander  could 
remain  quiet  after  victory ;  a  larger  view  opened  to 
him,  often  causing  anxiety  from  the  difficulties  to  be 
overcome,  for  insuring  further  advantages.  I  said 
that  it  was  a  remark  of  Moreau's,  made  on  the  same 
occasion,  that  the  fault  with  most  commanders,  how 
ever  brave,  was  backwardness  in  taking  the  last  step 
to  bring  on  a  battle,  especially  when  armies  were 
large,  arising  from  deep  moral  anxiety;  and,  after 
all,  the  uncertainties  of  the  issue.  The  Duke  said  it 
was  a  just  remark. 

The  Archduke  Charles  of  Austria  being  spoken 
of,  the  Duke  repeated  in  effect  what  I  had  heard 
him  say  to  General  Harper ;  namely,  that  he  proba 
bly  had  more  military  science  than  any  of  the  gen 
erals  of  Europe,  contemporary  with  him.  The 
conversation  proceeding,  the  Duke  remarked,  in  this 
connexion,  that  a  general  might  stand  too  much 
upon  the  rules  of  science,  while  an  engagement 
was  going  on;  there  could  not  be  too  much  atten 
tion  to  them  in  all  his  arrangements  beforehand,  he 
said;  but  the  battle  once  begun,  "the  main  thing  to 
think  of,  was  hard  fighting." 

The  Thistlewood  conspiracy  was  touched  upon, 
and  some  particulars  related.  One  was,  that  on  the 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  321 

night  of  the  Duke  of  San  Carlos' s  entertainment  in 
Portland  Place  when  the  Horse  Guards  were  called 
out,  it  was  believed  that  Thistlewood  was  in  the 
crowd,  intending  mischief;  but  the  presence  of  the 
Horse  Guards  had  kept  all  quiet.  When  the  daring 
character  of  the  plot  was  spoken  of,  the  Duke's 
opinion  was,  that  if  the  conspirators  had  got  into 
Lord  Harrowby's  dining  room  and  found  the  Cabi 
net  all  at  dinner,  most  of  them  would  probably  have 
been  killed;  "  How,"  said  he,  taking  a  table  knife  in 
his  hand,  "  could  we  have  defended  ourselves  with 
a  weapon  like  this,  against  men  rushing  in  to  murder 
us,  armed  with  swords,  pistols  and  hand  grenades?" 
He  said  that  having  taken  off  the  Ministers,  their 
first  step  would  probably  have  been  to  rob  the  banks 
in  the  Strand. 

He  asked  me  if  there  was  any  foundation  for  the 
rumor  of  our  having  any  serious  misunderstanding 
with  France;  he  here  alluded  to  a  late  act  of  Con 
gress  imposing  a  duty  of  eighteen  dollars  a  ton  upon 
French  vessels  in  our  ports.  I  said  no,  it  was  merely 
a  measure  of  commercial  policy — a  countervailing 
measure  on  our  side.  He  said  that  as  far  as  he 
understood  the  question,  we  appeared  to  be  in  the 
right. 

If  the  Duke's  guests  found  the  conversation  inter 
esting,  his  table  called  up  historical  reminiscences. 
When  the  desert  courses  came,  the  fruit  dishes, 


322  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1820. 

plates,  vases,  and  other  ornamental  pieces  of  a  ser 
vice  of  China,  presented  to  him  by  the  King  of 
Prussia,  were  illustrative  of  his  own  life.  Each 
piece  represented  some  passage  in  it.  It  began  with 
a  view  of  Deugan  Castle,  in  Ireland,  where  he  was 
born;  gave  you  Eton  in  England,  where  he  w^as 
educated;  took  you  to  India,  and  showed  you  Poo- 
nah,  Assaye,  Seringapatam,  and  other  places  mark 
ing  his  career  of  victory  and  fame  in  that  country; 
brought  you  back  to  Europe,  and  gave  you  his 
achievements  in  the  Peninsular  war,  Vimiera,  Tala- 
vera,  the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras,  Badajoz,  Vittoria, 
and  so  on;  until,  finishing  the  story  of  renown  in 
the  Peninsula,  you  come  up  to  Belgium,  where  the 
overthrow  of  Napoleon,  at  Waterloo,  closes  the  long 
scene  of  glory.  One  of  the  desert  plates  set  before 
me,  had  the  view  of  Busaco;  another,  that  of  Sala 
manca.  Thus,  all  his  campaigns  were  traced;  and, 
with  them,  an  outline  of  European  and  Asiatic  his 
tory  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  in  many  of  its  deci 
sive  events.  The  paintings  and  scenery  on  each 
piece  were  beautifully  executed.  Pieces  of  another 
service,  made  at  Dresden,  and  presented  to  the  Duke 
by  the  King  of  Saxony,  were  on  the  table,  and  also 
historical. 

I  should  sin  almost  against  my  country,  to  close 
the  recollections  of  an  evening  so  passed  without 
saying,  that  none  at  table  were  better  fitted  to  win 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  323 

favorable  opinions  by  all  attractiveness  and  grace, 
than  our  fair  countrywomen,  Mrs.  Patterson  and 
Miss  Caton,  of  Annapolis,  grand-daughters  of  Carrol, 
of  Carrolton.  The  former  subsequently  married  the 
Marquis  of  Wellesley;  the  latter,  Lord  Stafford. 

I  take  occasion  to  add,  that  the  Duke  sent  me, 
with  a  courteous  note,  a  paper  containing  the  regu 
lations  which  apply  to  the  age,  and  course  of  study 
in  detail,  necessary  to  the  admission  of  Cadets  to  the 
Royal  Military  Academy  at  Woolwich;  which  I 
transmitted  to  my  Government  for  the  use  of  the 
War  Department. 

July  19.  I  yesterday  received,  in  a  communica 
tion  from  Mr.  Goulbourn,  of  the  Colonial  Depart 
ment,  the  copy  of  a  dispatch  addressed  on  the  six 
teenth  of  June  to  Lord  Bathurst,  by  the  Governor 
of  Gibraltar,  respecting  the  differences  which  have 
existed  between  the  officers  of  our  squadron  in  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  British  officers  of  that  garri 
son.  Annexed  to  it  was  also  a  copy  of  a  letter  of 
the  third  of  June  from  Governor  Don,  to  Commo 
dore  Bainbridge,  of  our  flag-ship,  Columbus.  From 
these  documents  it  appeared,  that  Governor  Don 
considered  the  differences  as  all  happily  settled.  I 
forwarded  them  to  my  government. 

July  20.     In  a  dispatch  sent  to  the  Secretary  of 


324  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

State,  I  mention  that  Mr.  Stratford  Canning  had 
had  his  audience  of  leave  of  the  King,  and  might 
be  expected  to  embark  soon  for  Washington.  I  also 
transmit  to  the  Department  a  pamphlet  containing 
all  the  documents,  published  in  London,  on  the  im 
puted  designs  of  France  to  establish  a  throne  at 
Buenos  Ayres,  and  place  upon  it  a  Prince  of  the 
House  of  Bourbon,  the  subject  having  awakened 
attention  in  the  highest  political  circles.  I  mention 
that  the  Duke  de  Gazes,  the  newly  arrived  Ambas 
sador  from  France,  did  not  admit  the  documents  to 
be  genuine,  and  disavowed  ever  having  seen  the 
South  American  Envoy,  Gomez ;  but  that  whether 
he  had  disavowed  for  the  Marquis  Desolles  also,  I 
had  not  been  informed.  I  allude  to  the  debate  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  call  for  information 
relative  to  these  documents ;  in  the  course  of  which 
Dr.  Lushington  argued  the  broad  principle  that 
England  ought  to  recognize,  immediately  and  fully, 
the  independence  of  Buenos  Ayres,  but  that  Lord 
Castlereagh  had  dissented  from  such  a  policy ;  and 
that  Sir  James  Macintosh  in  his  speech  had  inti 
mated,  that  since  the  altered  state  of  things  in  Spain, 
the  question  of  desiring  a  separation  of  the  colonies 
from  the  parent  state,  had  essentially  changed.  I 
also  call  attention  to  what  Mr.  Canning  said  in  the 
debate,  viz.  that  as  history  had  shown  the  condition 
of  colonies  to  be  more  acquiescent  and  servile  under 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  325 

the  government  of  popular  assemblies,  than  under 
the  authority  of  even  absolute  monarchies,  (quaere — 
has  it?)  all  those  who  had  wished  to  see  the  colonies 
emancipated  from  monarchical  Spain,  ought  to 
cherish  the  wish  more  strongly,  now  that  Spain  had 
established  a  popular  government. 

I  mention  further,  that  our  Minister  in  Spain,  Mr. 
Forsyth,  had  written  to  me,  that  he  understood,  that 
the  informal  agents  in  London,  from  Caraccas,  Buenos 
Ay  res,  and  Chili,  had  held  a  meeting  in  May,  at 
which  it  was  determined  to  address  applications  to 
Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  desiring  that  Princes 
of  their  families  might  be  given  to  Spanish  America 
generally;  and  that  one  might  be  specially  selected 
from  the  Brazils,  for  Buenos  Ayres — for  so  I  read 
his  letter ;  but  I  add,  that  as  it  came  in  cypher,  there 
may  have  been  some  inadvertence  in  his  copyist.  I 
go  on  to  inform  the  Secretary,  that  I  was  not  aware 
of  the  facts  mentioned  in  Mr.  Forsyth's  letter ;  but 
had  been  informed,  that  since  the  establishment 
of  the  Constitution  of  1812  in  Spain,  the  agents  of 
Chili,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  Venezuela,  did  meet  in 
London,  though  with  a  very  different  object;  that  it 
was  jointly  to  sign,  as  they  did  sign,  according  to  my 
information,  an  address  to  the  King  of  Spain  asking 
that  their  independence  might  be  acknowledged; 
that  this  address  was  transmitted  to  Ferdinand 

through  the  Duke  of  San  Carlos,  then  Spanish  Am- 

28 


326  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

bassador  in  London,  and  that  the  answer,  received 
through  the  same  channel  in  London,  was,  that  no 
proposition  would  be  listened  to,  by  the  Cortes  or 
King,  that  had  not  for  its  basis  the  return  of  the  colo 
nies  to  their  subjection  to  the  mother  country. 

At  seven  in  the  evening,  dined  at  the  Russian 
Ambassador's,  where  we  had  the  Duke  of  York,  the 
Duke  de  Gazes,  newFrench  Ambassador,  with  nearly 
all  the  diplomatic  corps;  also  Lord  Castlereagh,  the 
Marquis  and  Marchioness  of  Stafford,  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  and  some  others.  Conversation  could  not  keep 
clear  of  the  case  of  the  Queen;  not,  indeed,  as  a  gen 
eral  topic,  but  sometimes  in  under  tones,  two  and 
two — so  it  was  in  my  neighborhood. 

July  22.  Dined  at  Lord  Castlereagh' s.  The  din 
ner  was  given  to  the  new  French  Ambassador.  We 
had  all  the  Foreign  Ambassadors  and  Ministers,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  Lord  Melville,  Mr.  Canning, 
Mr.  C.  Bathurst,  Mr.  Wellesley  Pole,  Lord  Amherst, 
Mr.  Planta,  Lord  Ancram,  and  others. 

I  sat  next  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  had 
much  conversation  with  him,  the  dinner  lasting  a 
good  while,  and  being  too  large  for  general  conversa 
tion.  He  spoke  of  parts  of  the  war  in  the  Peninsula, 
in  ways  greatly  to  interest  me.  He  also  adverted  to 
the  designs  of  France  upon  Buenos  Ayres,  as  im 
puted,  which  he  hoped  might  riot  be  true ;  if  true, 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  327 

they  would  show  an  intrigue,  lie  said,  which  Eng 
land  would  not  like,  and  not  belonging  to  the  age, 
which  had  "  excluded  double-dealing  from  public 
affairs."  I  give  his  words.  The  member  of  the 
Bourbon  family  whom  it  was  said  France  desired 
to  put  on  a  throne  at  Buenos  Ayres,  the  documents 
stated  to  be,  the  Prince  of  Lucca,  nephew  to  the 
King  of  Spain. 

July  24.  Dined  at  Mr.  Planta's,  New  Burlington 
street.  We  had  Lord  Strangford;  Mr.  Stratford 
Canning;  Mr.  de  Neuman,  of  the  Austrian  Em 
bassy;  Baron  Bulow,  of  the  Prussian;  Mr.  Fitz 
gerald;  Mr.  Gordon;  and  other  English  gentlemen. 

Many  subjects  were  touched;  the  Queen;  Junius; 
Cobbett;  the  London  newspapers.  Regarding  the 
last,  the  amount  of  capital,  in  money  and  mind,  em 
barked  in  some  of  the  leading  ones,  struck  me  as 
very  -remarkable,  on  facts  that  were  mentioned; 
meaning  by  capital  in  mind,  the  men  of  education 
and  talents,  formed  in  the  Universities  or  otherwise, 
who  are  silently  auxiliary  to  the  Editors.  Lord 
Strangford,  who  had  been  British  Minister  at  Rio 
Janiero,  told  me  that  he  knew  Mr.  Sumpter,  of  South 
Carolina,  our  Minister  at  that  Court,  and  esteemed 
him  highly.  His  conduct  in  the  affair  of  the  Queen's 
carriage  at  Rio,  which  he  narrated,  was,  he  said,  per- 


328  RESIDENCE    AT  THE  [1820. 

fectly  correct,  to  which  the  company  appeared  to 
assent. 

July  26.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Middleton,  Mr.  Stratford 
Canning,  and  Mr.  Planta,  dine  with  us.  Mr.  Can 
ning's  prospects  in  the  United  States,  in  the  mission 
to  which  he  is  destined,  become  a  topic,  and  Mr. 
Planta  enlivens  us  with  pleasant  sallies  on  the  whole 
subject. 

July  27.  Dined  with  His  Royal  Highness,  the 
Duke  of  Sussex,  at  Kensington  Palace.  The  Duke 
of  Hamilton,  the  Earl  of  Thanet,  Lord  Ebrington, 
the  Marquis  of  Tavistock,  Lord  Anson,  Mr.  Coke, 
General  Fitzroy,  and  others,  made  the  company. 

At  table  I  was  between  the  Duke  of  Sussex  and 
Duke  of  Hamilton.  The  latter  had  been  much 
abroad,  and  talked  on  continental  affairs,  especially 
of  the  growing  power  of  Russia. 

The  Duke  of  Sussex,  sat  at  the  head  of  his  table 
in  true  old  English  style,  and  was  full  of  cordiality 
and  conversation.  I  cannot  resist  the  satisfaction  of 
putting  down  a  small  part  of  what  fell  from  him. 
General  principles  of  government  coming  to  be 
spoken  of,  he  expatiated  on  the  benefits  of  free  gov 
ernment  ;  declaring,  that  as  all  men,  kings  as  well  as 
others,  were  perpetually  pi -one  to  abuse  power  when  they 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  329 

got  to  the  possession  of  it,  the  only  safe  course  was,  to 
limit  its  exercise  by  the  strictest  constitutional  rules. 
In  the  palace  of  kings,  and  from  the  son  and  brother 
of  a  king,  I  should  not  have  been  quite  prepared  for 
this  declaration,  but  that  it  was  not  for  the  first  time 
I  had  heard  him  converse.  The  sentiments  which 
it  embodied,  even  with  new  strength  and  precision, 
I  now  listened  to,  with  renewed  pleasure.  If  such 
sentiments  flourished  so  near  the  British  throne, 
what  may  we  not  be  allowed  to  think  of  the  race  of 
sturdy  and  spirited  Englishmen,  who  settled  the 
United  States  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  Cromwell, 
and  the  Stuarts?* 

August  12.  The  case  of  the  Queen  excites  an 
interest  so  absorbing,  that  I  thus  reported  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  its  position  and  aspect. 

I  mentioned  that  all  attempts  at  a  compromise  hav 
ing  failed,  her  case  was  transferred  from  the  House  of 
Commons  to  the  House  of  Lords ;  that  there  was  no 
abatement  of  the  heats  which  it  had  produced ;  that 

*  Macauley,  speaking  of  the  civil  wars  in  England,  in  his  life  of  Milton, 
says,  "  The  battle  was  fought  for  no  single  generation,  for  no  single  land. 
The  destinies  of  the  human  race  were  staked  on  the  same  cast  with  the 
freedom  of  the  English  people.  Then  were  proclaimed  those  mighty  prin 
ciples  which  have  since  worked  their  way  into  the  depths  of  the  American 
forests,  which  have  roused  Greece  from  the  slavery  and  degradation  of  two 
thousand  years,  and  which,  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other,  have 
kindled  an  unquenchable  fire  in  the  hearts  of  the  oppressed." 

28* 


330  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

the  proceedings  had  taken  the  shape  of  a  bill  of 
pains  and  penalties,  which  a  Committee  of  the  Lords 
reported  against  her,  and  that  it  was  under  the 
allegations  of  this  bill,  that  she  was  to  be  put  upon 
her  trial ;  that  its  provisions  went  to  deprive  her  of 
all  her  rights  and  prerogatives  .as  Queen  consort  of 
the  realm,  and  to  dissolve  the  marriage  between  her 
self  and  the  King ;  and  that  the  charge  laid  against 
her  was  that  of  misconduct  with  Bartholomew  Ber- 
gami,  an  Italian,  whom  she  took  into  her  service, 
and  advanced  to  a  high  station  in  her  household. 

I  mentioned  that  these  proceedings  were  strongly 
objected  to,  whatever  might  have  been  her  miscon 
duct.  It  was  alleged  that  they  overthrew  the  fun 
damental  rule  of  British  jurisprudence  which  separa 
ted  judicial  from  legislative  powers;  that  in  this 
respect,  a  bill  of  pains  and  penalties,  was  like  acts  of 
attainder  and  confiscation,  which  were  odious  in 
English  history,  as  associated  with  arbitrary  times; 
that  it  overstepped  all  the  ordinary  barriers  of  the 
law,  and  was  wounding  to  the  constitution;  that  no 
private  subject  in  Britain  could  obtain  a  sentence  of 
divorce  judicially,  for  the  cause  mentioned  in  the 
bill,  without  allowing  to  the  respondent  the  right  of 
recrimination,  but  that  the  Queen  was  entirely  cut 
off  from  it.  That  she  had  also  been  refused  a  list  of 
the  witnesses  against  her,  as  well  as  a  specification 
of  the  place  or  places  where,  or  of  the  time  when, 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  331 

her  imputed  misconduct  had  taken  place,  all  parts  of 
the  continent  of  Europe  which  she  had  visited 
during  a  space  of  six  years,  having  been  left  open  to 
her  accusers  on  both  those  material  heads;  but  in 
this  connexion  I  mention  also,  that  her  accusers  had 
given  assurances  that  the  proceedings  against  her 
would  not  be  hurried  to  her  disadvantage,  for  that 
after  the  testimony  against  her  was  closed,  she  wTould 
be  allowed  full  time  for  taking  measures  to  repel  it. 

I  mentioned,  that  when  the  bill  was  reported  in 
the  House  of  Peers,  Earl  Grey  declared  that  their 
Lordships,  in  consenting  to  act  upon  it,  had  placed 
themselves,  for  all  that  concerned  the  Queen's  hopes 
of  justice,  and  their  own  responsibilites,  in  the  three 
fold  and  awful  situation  of  legislators,  prosecutors, 
and  judges;  and  that  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
amongst  other  vehement  denunciations  of  the  bill 
from  different  members,  Mr.  Bennet  had  warned  the 
Ministers  against  going  on  with  a  proceeding  at  the 
consequences  of  which  the  boldest  mind  might 
shudder. 

I  remarked,  that  whilst  it  belonged  to  the  English, 
in  Parliament  and  out  of  it,  to  exaggerate  incidents 
of  political  danger,  the  question  of  the  Queen's  trial 
was,  without  doubt,  one  which  seemed  to  be  rising 
in  importance  under  the  keen  personal  sensibilities 
embarked  in  it  on  both  sides ;  that  there  were  not 
wanting  persons  who  said,  that  should  the  Queen 


332  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

be  degraded,  and  the  King  embrace  the  option 
which  would  then  be  open  to  him  of  another  mar 
riage,  and  issue  spring  from  it,  the  very  succession 
to  the  monarchy  might  become  endangered,  as  suc 
ceeding  Parliaments  had  often  been  known  to  undo 
the  acts  of  prior  Parliaments  passed  in  violation  of 
received  opinions  of  constitutional  right;  and  be 
cause,  not  only  the  immediate  brothers  of  the  King, 
but  their  descendants,  male  and  female,  would  have 
the  great  stake  of  a  throne  in  the  inculcation  of  that 
doctrine. 

Such  was  the  purport  of  my  communication.  I 
stated,  also,  that  the  session  of  Parliament  might  be 
considered  as  substantially  at  an  end;  that  it  had 
stood  adjourned  since  the  middle  of  July;  and, 
although  to  meet  again  in  a  week  from  the  time  I 
wrote,  it  was  not  supposed  that  any  further  business 
would  be  done,  beyond  that  which  related  to  the 
Queen ;  her  case  occupying,  since  it  first  arose,  so 
much  of  the  time  of  both  Houses,  as  to  have 
abridged,  in  amount  and  interest,  all  other  proceed 
ings.  That  even  the  coronation,  a  ceremony  which 
it  was  believed  the  King  had  much  at  heart,  from 
the  long  interval  since  there  had  been  one  in  Eng 
land,  was  postponed  on  this  account;  and  that  thus 
the  calls  of  public  business,  and  desire  of  kingly  dis 
play,  were  alike  held  in  suspense  by  the  dispute. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  333 

August  14.  On  the  eleventh  instant,  Mr.  Strat 
ford  Canning  embarks  on  his  mission  to  the  United 
States,  in  the  Spartan  frigate,  from  Portsmouth. 

August  17.  Lord  Holland  rose  in  the  House  of 
Lords  yesterday,  and  stated  that  he  designed,  at  an 
early  day,  to  put  certain  questions  to  ministers,  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  information  on  the  existing 
relations  between  Russia  and  England,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  between  Russia,  England,  and  Spain,  on 
the  other.  His  reason  for  desiring  the  information 
arose,  he  said,  from  the  manifesto  recently  issued  by 
Russia,  on  the  subject  of  the  revolution  in  Spain; 
the  principles  contained  in  which,  his  Lordship 
denounced,  as  calculated  to  involve  Europe  in  end 
less  wars,  and  to  endanger  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  future  generations.  Lord  Liverpool  replied,  that, 
when  the  questions  were  put  in  a  regular  form,  he 
would  be  ready  with  the  proper  explanations,  adding 
that  there  was  nothing  in  the  relations  between  Eng 
land  and  Spain,  that  was  likely  to  lead  to  a  renewal 
of  hostilities. 

Subsequently,  Lord  Liverpool,  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  Lord  Castlereagh,  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  gave  their  explanations,  on  the  part  of  the 
ministry,  respecting  Spanish  affairs.  They  were, 
that  Great  Britain  was*  no  party  to  any  league 
among  the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  for  interfering 


334  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

with  the  cause  of  self-government  in  Spain,  and 
that  the  communications  from  the  British  to  the 
Spanish  Government  had  been  bottomed  upon  a 
desire  to  keep  up  the  relations  of  amity  between  the 
two  countries,  as  well  as  a  wish  that  the  proceedings 
going  on,  under  the  Cortes,  might  end  in  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  just  and  rational  system  of  government 
for  Spain;  explanations  which  I  communicated  to 
the  President,  with  the  addition  that  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  had  expressed,  in  conversation,  similar  senti 
ments  to  me. 

August  18.  Mr.  George  Washington  Campbell, 
our  late  Minister  at  Petersburg,  here  on  his  return 
to  the  United  States,  Mr.  J.  Adams  Smith,  and 
myself,  pass  the  day  in  visiting  Kew,  Richmond, 
Twickenham,  Hampton  Court,  and  Windsor.  At 
Windsor,  we  went  through  the  principal  part  of  the 
Castle.  In  the  church  near  Richmond  we  saw  the 
monument  to  Pope,  and  the  one  he  erected  to  his 
nurse;  at  Twickenham,  his  villa,  his  grotto,  the 
stump  of  his  old  willow,  the  column  raised  in  honor 
of  his  mother,  et  cetera.  We  went  to  Strawberry 
Hill,  and  had  a  glance  at  that  beautiful  little  gothic 
residence,  rendered  immortal  by  the  prince  of  letter- 
writers,  Horace  Walpole.  At  Hampton  Court,  we 
saw  the  Maze,  the  enormous  grape  vine,  and  all  the 
rooms  of  the  Palace.  At  Kew,  the  gardens,  and 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  335 

rooms  of  the  old  Palace ;  the  furniture  of  which  had 
all  been  left  as  when  they  were  last  occupied  by  the 
Royal  Family,  the  late  Queen  having  died  there. 
We  went  also  to  Runnymede,  the  famous  scene  of 
Magna  Charta,  which  we  were  especially  anxious  to 
see.  All  this  was  a  good  day's  occupation;  but 
having,  on  this  occasion,  only  one  day  to  give  to  it, 
we  were  industrious,  and  had  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
things,  though  certainly  not  more.  The  day  was 
fine,  we  were  off  by  six  in  the  morning,  and  got 
back  to  town  at  eight  in  the  evening. 


336  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TRIAL  OF  THE  QUEEN.      AMERICAN  VESSELS  BOUND   TO 

FRENCH  PORTS,  LAND  THEIR  CARGOES  IN  ENGLAND 
UNDER  THE  WAREHOUSING  SYSTEM.  CONTINUATION 
OF  THE  QUEEN'S  TRIAL — MR.  BROUGHAM.  DINNER 
AT  THE  FRENCH  AMBASSADOR'S  AT  HARROW,  IN 

HONOR  OF  THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  BORDEAUX. 
RATIFICATION  OF  THE  FLORIDA  TREATY.  DINNER 
AT  THE  SPANISH  AMBASSADOR'S.  TERMINATION  OF 

THE  QUEEN'S  TRIAL — LONDON  ILLUMINATED.  DIN 
NER  AT  MRS.  PORTER'S — ANECDOTES  OF  NAPOLEON. 

DINNER  AT  THE  FRENCH  AMBASSADOR'S,  PORTLAND 
PLACE.  DINNER  AT  MR.  TROTTER'S.  PROROGATION 
OF  PARLIAMENT.  LETTER  TO  MR.  CRAWFORD,  SE 
CRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY.  PARLIAMENTARY 
REPORT  ON  THE  FOREIGN  TRADE  OF  ENGLAND.  IN 
TERVIEW  WITH  LORD  CASTLEREAGH — UMPIRAGE  OF 
THE  EMPEROR  ALEXANDER  UNDER  THE  TREATY  OF 
GHENT.  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE  MINISTER 

OF  STATE  AT  MADRID  AND  THE  BRITISH  AMBASSA 
DOR,  RESPECTING  THE  FLORIDA  TREATY.  PARTY 
AT  PRINCE  ESTERHAZY'S. 

August  26.     Went  to   the    House    of   Lords  to 
attend  the  trial  of  the  Queen.     The  attendance  of 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  337 

Peers  was  very  full.  Lord  Grenville,  Lord  Erskine, 
Lord  Redesdale,  Lord  Liverpool,  Lord  Lansdowne 
and  Lord  Ellenborough,  spoke  to  a  point  respecting 
the  cross-examination  of  witnesses.  No  decision 
was  pronounced.  Mr.  Brougham,  leading  counsel 
for  the  Queen,  also  addressed  the  House,  after  which 
an  adjournment  took  place  until  Monday.  I  was 
immediately  under  the  throne,  being  the  place  where 
the  Foreign  Ministers  go,  if  inclining  to  attend. 

August  30.  Attend  the  trial  of  the  Queen,  the 
examination  of  witnesses  still  going  on.  The  testi 
mony  is  taken  down  by  a  short-hand  writer  and 
printed  every  day,  from  his  notes,  for  the  use  of  all 
parties.  Counsel  as  well  as  Peers,  are  thus  spared 
the  labor  of  writing  it  down,  and  can  be  employing 
their  minds  instead  of  their  hands. 

September  4.  Attend  again;  the  examination  of 
witnesses  continues.  Several  Peers  took  part  in 
the  examination — Lord  Liverpool,  Earl  Grey,  Earl 
Grosvenor,  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  and  others. 

September  9.  The  House  of  Lords  adjourn,  to 
afford  an  interval  for  the  Queen  to  prepare  for  her 
defence,  the  case  having  now  been  seventeen  days 


under  hearing. 


29 


338  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

September  20.  Mr.  Middleton  left  London  yes 
terday.  I  communicate  to  my  government  a  full 
account  of  all  that  was  done  with  the  British  gov 
ernment  during  his  stay,  of  more  than  two  months, 
towards  certain  previous  arrangements  for  bringing 
the  slave  question  under  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  before 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  as  umpire;  arrangements 
which  would  have  been  sooner  perfected,  but  for 
impediments  to  business  created  by  the  case  of  the 
Queen.  The  precise  nature  of  these  arrangements 
need  not  be  here  stated,  any  more  than  others 
which  afterwards  became  necessary,  as  the  award 
was  in  favor  of  the  United  States,  and  was  followed 
by  a  satisfactory  settlement  of  the  wrhole  case,  by 
payment  on  the  part  of  England,  as  already  men 
tioned  in  Chapter  XIX.  of  the  former  volume. 

September  30.  Hearing  that  some  of  our  vessels 
bound  to  French  ports  had  been  permitted  to  land 
their  cargoes  at  British  outports  under  the  warehous 
ing  acts,  the  heavy  tonnage  duty  in  France  causing 
the  American  owners  to  suspend  their  original  desti 
nation,  I  went  to  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Trade  to 
make  application  on  the  subject,  and  learned  that  it 
was  the  fact.  I  communicate  the  information  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  saying  that  I  had  reason  to  know 
that  this  government  was  not  inattentive  to  the  pro- 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  339 

gress  of  our  disputes  with  France  respecting  tonnage 
duties,  and  if  they  were  not  adjusted,  would  naturally 
turn  them  to  account;  more  especially  as  they  were 
occurring  at  a  time  when  an  extension  of  the  ware 
housing  system  with  a  view  to  making  England  a 
centre  of  trade  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  was  becom 
ing,  as  past  communications  from  me  had  made 
known,  more  than  ever  a  favorite  object  of  her  com 
mercial  policy. 

October  3.  The  House  of  Lords  re-assembled  in 
continuation  of  the  trial  of  the  Queen.  After  some 
introductory  remarks  from  Lord  Liverpool,  disavow 
ing  on  the  part  of  the  government  all  improper  deal 
ing  with  the  witnesses,  (a  disavowal  induced  by  the 
published  letter  of  a  Mr.  Marietti,)  and  stating  his 
readiness  to  exhibit  an  account  of  all  the  monies  paid 
to  the  witnesses  in  support  of  the  bill,  Mr.  Brougham 
as  counsel  for  the  Queen,  opened  her  case  with  great 
power  and  boldness.  He  declared  that  nothing 
should  check  him  in  fulfilling  his  duty,  and  that  he 
would  recriminate  upon  the  King,  if  necessary.  He 
said  that  an  English  advocate  could  look  to  nothing 
but  the  rights  of  his  client,  and  that  even  should  the 
country  itself  suffer,  his  feelings  as  a  patriot  must 
give  way  to  his  professional  obligations.  This  I 
thought  rather  strong,  if  interpreted  in  the  broad 
sense  of  which  it  is  susceptible. 


340  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

It  is  worth  a  passing  notice,  that  during  the  ad 
journment  of  this  momentous  trial,  Mr.  Brougham 
attended  the  assizes  at  Yorkshire,  and  engaged  in  a 
cause  on  behalf  of  a  poor  old  woman,  upon  whose 
pig-cot  a  trespass  had  been  committed.  It  was  on 
the  side  of  a  common  of  upwards  of  one  hundred 
acres,  upon  about  Jive  yards  of  which  the  pig-cot  was 
alleged  to  have  encroached.  The  poor  woman  had 
paid  the  lord  of  the  manor  a  yearly  rent  of  six  pence 
for  it,  and  six  pence  on  entering.  The  pig-cot  hav 
ing  been  pulled  down,  the  jury  found  for  the  old 
woman,  and  gave  her  forty  shillings  damages.  To 
have  been  counsel  for  the  Queen  of  the  Realm,  and 
in  such  a  case  as  this  at  the  same  time,  is  illustrative 
of  the  English  bar;  and,  individually,  of  Mr.  Broug 
ham. 

October  6.  Go  to  the  House  of  Lords.  The  Earl 
of  Llandaff,  Lady  Charlotte  Lindsay,  the  Hon. 
Keppel  Craven,  and  Sir  William  Gell,  are  examined 
on  the  part  of  the  Queen,  several  Peers  taking  part 
in  the  examination ;  amongst  them,  Lord  Erskine, 
the  Earl  of  Roseberry,  and  Earl  Grosvenor. 

October  9.  Go  again.  Dr.  Holland,  Mr.  Mills, 
and  other  witnesses,  are  examined  in  her  behalf. 
The  testimony  has  assumed  aspects  so  much  in  her 
favor,  that  I  hear  from  high  sources  that  the  Minis- 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  341 

ters  are  almost  brought  to  a  stand,  and  that  the  bill 
will  probably  not  be  persisted  in.  *******,  of  the 
Corps,  thinks  that  it  will  be  given  up. 

October  10.  After  returning  from  the  House  of 
Lords  yesterday,  I  went  to  dinner  at  the  French 
Ambassador's,  at  Harrow.  It  was  an  entertainment, 
on  a  brilliant  scale,  given  in  honour  of  the  birth  of 
the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  a  new  heir  to  the  throne  of 
the  Bourbons.  The  foreign  Ambassadors  and  Minis 
ters  were  there,  the  Earl  of  Mansfield,  Lord  North- 
wick  and  others.  A  band  of  music  was  in  attend 
ance,  playing  at  intervals,  and  the  bells  of  Harrow 
rang  merry  peals.  After  dinner,  from  which  we  did 
not  rise  until  a  late  hour,  the  house  and  grounds 
were  illuminated,  and  the  entertainment  closed  with 
an  exhibition  of  fire-works  at  the  bottom  of  the  lawn. 
The  inhabitants  of  Harrow  and  the  neighborhood 
turned  out  in  great  numbers,  and  stood  on  the  skirts 
of  the  lawn,  gazing  at  the  spectacle. 

Lord  Liverpool,  Lord  Castlereagh  and  other  mem 
bers  of  the  Cabinet  had  been  expected  to  this  enter 
tainment,  and  their  absence  was  a  great  disappoint 
ment  to  the  distinguished  host.  Dinner  waited  for 
them ;  none  knew  the  cause  of  the  delay,  when  at 
length  a  messenger  came  with  an  apology.  It 
appeared  that  a  council  of  the  Ministers  had  been 

29* 


342  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

unexpectedly  summoned  to  meet  at  the  palace  on  the 
case  of  the  Queen. 


October  14.  The  trial  of  the  Queen  proceeds. 
John  Powell,  Filippo  Pomi,  and  others  are  ex 
amined. 

October  16.  Admiral  Sir  John  Beresford  and 
others  are  examined. 

October  20.  This  morning  I  receive  information 
from  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  of  the  ratification  of 
the  Florida  treaty,  and  forthwith  communicate  it  to 
my  government,  sending  the  dispatch  to  Liverpool 
to  go  by  the  first  ship,  for  the  chance  of  conveying 
the  information  to  Washington,  before  it  can  arrive 
direct  from  Madrid. 

October  24.  The  trial  of  the  Queen  goes  on.  Al 
though  I  had  information  a  fortnight  ago  that  Minis 
ters  were  deliberating  as  to  an  abandonment  of  the 
bill,  subsequent  testimony  proving  less  favorable  to 
her  case,  they  determined  to  let  it  take  its  course ; 
and  I  now  write  to  my  government  that  there  seemed 
no  -certainty  what  would  be  the  result. 

November  11.  Dined  with  the  Duke  de  Frias, 
Spanish  Ambassador.  We  had  the  Diplomatic 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  343 

Corps  in  part,  and  several  English  gentlemen.  With 
the  Spanish  Ambassador  I  had  an  exchange  of  con 
gratulations  on  the  final  ratification  at  Madrid  of  the 
Florida  treaty. 

Mr.  ******  told  anecdotes  of  the  Queen;  amongst 
them,  that  when  she  lived  at  Blackheath,  she  had 
many  a  time  played  blind-man's-buff  with  Sir  Wil 
liam  Scott,  Mr.  Canning,  and  others  who  made  up 
her  parties.  He  also  said  that  Bergami  had  declared 
that  if  he  ever  caught  Alderman  Wood  in  Italy,  he 
would  kill  him,  as  he  had  been  the  means  of  making 
the  Queen  refuse  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling  a 
year  from  the  government;  of  which  sum,  had  it 
come  into  her  hands,  he,  Bergami,  would  have  had 
a  handsome  portion  annually  for  life. 

November  14.  The  trial  is  over,  which  has  so 
much  riveted  public  attention  in  England,  and  ex 
cited,  to  some  extent,  the  attention  of  Europe.  The 
report  to  my  government  of  the  final  proceedings 
and  result,  was  to  the  following  effect : 

I  mention  that  the  entire  evidence  and  speaking 
being  closed  on  the  thirtieth  of  October,  an  adjourn 
ment  of  the  House  of  Lords  took  place  until  the 
second  of  November ;  the  testimony  alone,  indepen 
dent  of  the  speeches  of  counsel  and  all  interlocutory 
debates  among  the  Peers,  having  filled  scarcely  less 
than  a  thousand  pages  folio ;  that  from  the  second  of 


344  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

November  to  the  sixth,  the  Peers  were  occupied  in 
debates  upon  the  evidence,  almost  every  member 
assigning  reasons  for  the  vote  he  intended  to  give ; 
that  on  the  sixth,  the  vote  was  taken  and  the  bill 
passed  to  a  second  reading  by  a  majority  of  twenty- 
eight.  That  on  the  eighth  of  November,  another 
vote  was  taken  as  to  whether  the  clause  providing 
for  a  divorce  should  be  maintained  in  the  bill,  and 
passed  in  the  affirmative ;  that  in  regard  to  this  vote, 
several  of  the  Peers  who  were  opposed  to  the  prin 
ciple  of  the  bill,  gave  their  votes  in  favor  of  the 
clause  for  a  divorce,  in  the  hope,  which  they  avowed, 
of  rendering  the  bill  still  more  exceptionable  with 
some  of  the  members,  (meaning  the  Bishops,)  and 
thus  increasing  the  chance  of  its  ultimate  defeat; 
and  I  also  mention  that  the  Ministers,  who  perceived 
this  course,  and  were  probably  apprehensive  of  its 
effect,  voted  for  striking  out  the  divorce  clause  (other 
wise  known  to  be  desired  by  the  King)  and  found 
themselves  in  the  minority. 

I  go  on  to  state,  that  on  the  tenth  of  November 
the  bill,  with  the  divorce  clause  retained,  was  put  to 
vote  for  a  third  reading ;  and  that  on  this  final  vote 
it  passed  by  a  majority  of  nine,  one  hundred  and 
eight  voting  for  it,  and  ninety-nine  against  it ;  and 
that  amongst  those  who  voted  in  its  favor  were  in 
cluded  the  nine  Peers  who  were  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  and  the  whole  bench  of  Bishops,  except 


1820.]         COURT  OF  LONDON.  345 

four ;  that  the  majority  being  thus  slender,  and  thus 
composed,  Lord  Liverpool,  as  head  of  the  Ministry, 
rose  and  abandoned  all  further  prosecution  of  the 
bill,  declaring  that  he  did  so  on  the  double  ground 
of  the  smallness  of  the  majority,  and  the  strongly 
expressed  sense  of  the  country  against  the  measure. 
I  add,  that  a  large  number  of  the  Peers  who  voted 
against  the  bill,  did  not  give  their  votes,  as  they 
expressly  stated,  on  any  clear  belief  in  the  Queen's 
innocence,  but  voted  on  the  ground  of  the  uncon- 
stitutionality  and  inexpediency  of  the  bill;  and  I 
state  further,  as  a  curious  fact,  that  the  parts  of  the 
evidence  which  had  borne  hardest  upon  the  Queen, 
and  on  which  those  who  supported  the  bill  were 
driven  in  the  end  to  rely  most,  had  come  from  wit 
nesses  called  and  examined  in  her  defence. 

Such  is  a  synopsis  of  the  account  I  transmitted. 
The  debates  among  the  Peers,  grew  stormy  as  the 
case  approached  its  close.  Earl  Grey  declared,  that 
if  their  Lordships  passed  the  bill,  it  would  prove  the 
most  disastrous  step  the  House  had  ever  taken. 
Earl  Grosvenor  said,  that  feeling  as  he  did  the  evils 
which  the  erasure  of  the  Queen's  name  from  the 
Liturgy  (a  measure  adopted  before  her  trial  came  on) 
was  likely  to  entail  upon  the  nation,  as  well  as  its 
repugnance  to  law  and  justice,  he  wTould,  had  he 
been  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  have  "  thrown  the 
prayer-look  in  the  King's  face"  sooner  than  have 


346  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

consented  to  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Duke  of 
Montrose  said,  even  after  the  Ministers  had  aban 
doned  the  bill,  that  so  convinced  was  he  of  her  guilt, 
that  whatever  others  might  think  fit  to  do,  he,  for 
one,  would  never  acknowledge  her  for  his  Queen. 

London  was  illuminated,  more  or  less,  for  three 
successive  nights,  under  edicts  put  forth  by  popular 
feeling,  at  the  overthrow  of  the  bill.  The  streets, 
the  theatres,  the  highways,  gave  testimony  of  the 
popular  joy  at  the  Queen's  triumph ;  for  so  her  friends 
and  partizans  called  it,  notwithstanding  the  loud 
assertions  to  the  contrary  kept  up  by  those  who  took 
part  against  her. 

An  impartial  spectator  of  the  whole  scene,  admon 
ished  by  his  public  situation  to  side  with  neither 
party,  may  be  allowed  to  say,  (what  he  thought  and 
felt,)  that  the  Ministry  showed  great  wisdom  in  sur 
rendering  up  their  measure  as  an  offering  to  popu 
lar  feeling,  though  they  had  carried  the  bill.  Lord 
Rosslyn,  in  the  course  of  his  powerful  speech, 
put  their  wisdom  in  a  strong  light  by  saying, 
amongst  his  other  objections  to  the  measure,  that, 
had  it  passed,  it  would  have  become  a  formidable 
rallying  point  for  disaffection  throughout  the  king 
dom,  and  have  tended  to  bring  the  House  of  Lords 
into  disrepute,  at  a  time  when  that  branch  of  Parlia 
ment  ought  specially  to  desire  and  deserve  popular 
approbation. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  347 

The  trial  exemplifies  striking  characteristics  of 
the  English  nation.  A  majority  of  the  Peers  held 
on  to  it  with  a  firmness  that  the  Patricians  of  Rome 
could  not  have  exceeded,  -until  they  carried  their 
point  by  a  conviction.  Their  sense  of  justice  and 
pride  satisfied,  they  allowed  the  popular  parts  of  the 
constitution  to  have  play.  The  people,  inflamed  by 
wrongs  done  to  a  woman  as  they  viewed  her  cause, 
took  it  up  with  the  unconquerable  resolution  of 
Roman  Plebeians,  and  would  probably  not  have 
yielded.  But  that  which  was  perhaps  most  remark 
able  throughout  the  fierce  contest,  was  the  boundless 
range  of  the  Press,  and  liberty  of  speech.  Every 
day  produced  its  thousand  fiery  libels  against  the 
King  and  his  adherents ;  and  caricatures,  under  the 
the  worst  forms,  were  hawked  about  all  the  streets. 
The  Queen's  counsel,  Mr.  Denman,  addressing  him 
self  to  the  assembled  peerage  of  the  realm,  denoun 
ced,  in  thundering  tones,  one  of  the  brothers  of  the 
King,  as  a  slanderer  : — come  forth,  said  he,  "  THOU 
SLANDERER;"  a  denunciation  the  more  severe,  from 
the  sarcastic  strain  in  which  it  was  uttered,  and  the 
turn  of  the  speaker's  eye  towards  the  object  of  his 
incensed  eloquence.  Even  after  the  whole  trial  had 
ended,  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  just  then  out  of  prison 
for  one  libel,  proclaimed  aloud  to  his  constituents, 
and  had  it  published  in  all  the  papers,  that  the 
Ministers  ALL  DESERVED  TO  BE  HANGED  !  This  tern- 


348  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

i 

pest  of  abuse,  incessantly  directed  against  the  King 
and  all  who  stood  by  him,  was  borne,  during  several 
months,  without  the  slightest  attempt  to  punish  or 
check  it.  It  may  be  said  to  have  raged  by  the  per 
mission  of  the  government;  and  it  is  too  prominent  a 
fact  to  be  left  unnoticed,  that  the  same  advocate  who 
so  fearlessly  uttered  the  above  denunciation  against 
a  Prince  of  the  blood,  was  made  Attorney  General 
when  that  Prince  of  the  blood  succeeded  to  the 
throne;  and  was  subsequently  raised  to  the  still 
higher  dignity  of  Lord  Chief  Justice,  where  he  still 
remains — an  honor  to  the  kingdom. 

November  15.  Dined  yesterday  at  Mrs.  Porter's, 
Upper  Norton  street.  We  had  Colonel  Wilkes, 
who,  as  English  Governor  at  St.  Helena,  first  had 
charge  of  Bonaparte ;  Mr.  Boswell,  brother  to  John 
son's  Boswell,  and  a  few  others — gentlemen  and 
ladies. 

Colonel  Wilkes  told  anecdotes  of  Bonaparte.  The 
one  which  struck  me  most  was,  that  a  frequent  pas 
time  with  him  after  his  arrival  at  St.  Helena,  was  to 
play  blind-man's-buff  with  the  ladies  and  children; 
and  that  he  entered  fully  into  the  spirit  of  it. 

Is  this  the  game  of  the  great  names  of  the  earth  ? 
Last  month  I  heard,  that  the  profound  jurists  of 
Britain,  her  statesmen  and  orators,  her  Cannings, 
and  Scotts,  played  it  with  the  Queen  at  Blackheath. 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  349 

I  now  learned,  and  through  a  channel  equally  au 
thentic,  that  Napoleon  was  addicted  to  it ! 

In  connexion  with  this  personal  anecdote  of  him 
from  such  a  source,  I  am  led  to  relate  what  I  heard 
Baron  Just  say,  at  a  subsequent  day,  when  dining 
with  him  in  Portman  street.  The  Baron  was  minis 
ter  from  the  King  of  Saxony  at  Napoleon's  Court, 
saw  him  often,  and,  on  two  occasions,  had  special 
audiences  which  lasted  an  hour  each.  And  I  had 
occasion  to  remark,  said  he,  1st,  that  he  was  not 
hurried  in  conversation;  but  composed  and  master 
of  himself.  2d,  That  his  manner,  instead  of  over 
awing,  was  so  remarkably  calculated  to  put  you  at 
ease,  that  "  I  was  forced  to  recollect  myself,"  said 
the  venerable  diplomat,  "  after  being  some  time  in 
his  presence,  lest  things  might  fall  from  me  not 
proper  to  be  said,  in  consequence  of  feeling  myself 
so  entirely  at  ease."  On  my  remarking  that  these 
attributes  had  not  generally  been  ascribed  to  him, 
he  replied,  that,  by  his  experience  on  both  occasions, 
they  were,  nevertheless,  strikingly  observable.  He 
then  added,  that  he  once  saw  him  in  anger,  and  that 
he  never  had  beheld  an  eye  and  countenance  so 
fierce.  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  his  marriage  to 
the  Empress  Maria  Louisa,  (the  Baron  being  at  the 
ceremony ;)  and  his  anger  was  produced  by  perceiv 
ing  that  some  of  the  princesses  of  his  family,  who 
were  to  act  as  trainbearers,  were  not  in  their  places ; 

30 


350  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

and  that  certain  chairs  assigned  for  some  cardinals, 
were  vacant,  and  the  cardinals  not  there.  Here 
again  what  have  we?  The  "  greatest  man  often 
centuries,"  as  Lord  Holland  once  called  him  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  the  man  who  was  collected  in 
the  field  of  battle  in  proportion  as  danger  thickened, 
and  who  could  be  himself  under  the  most  compli 
cated  difficulties  of  civil  government,  is  fired  with 
anger  at  breaches  of  personal  etiquette  ! 

November  17.  Dined  at  the  French  Ambassa 
dor's,  Portland-Place,  his  domicil  being  removed  to 
town.  We  had  the  Diplomatic  Corps;  also  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  the  Earl  of  Liverpool,  the 
Earl  of  Westmoreland,  the  Earl  of  Mansfield,  Lord 
Melville,  and  other  gentlemen. 

I  had  much  conversation  with  ******* *,  of  the 
diplomatic  corps.  He  said,  that  he  did  not  antici 
pate  any  great  results  from  the  deliberations  at 
Troppeau;  the  Emperor  Alexander  had  been  edu 
cated  in  liberal  principles,  and  still  had  them  in  his 
head — whether  in  his  heart  or  not,  he  could  not  say ; 
his  Minister,  Capo'  Distria,  was  very  able;  his  other 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  Count  Nesselrode,  not 
so  able,  perhaps,  and  less  liberal  in  his  principles; 
both  would  be  with  him  at  Troppeau;  the  Emperor 
of  Austria  would  be  attended  by  Prince  Metternich, 
who  "  hated  all  constitutions,'7  he  said,  and  the 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  351 

Emperor  Alexander  "had  no  love  for  him;"  the 
King  of  Prussia  would  be  attended  by  the  Prince 
Royal;  also  by  Prince  Hardenburg,  and  M.  de  Bern- 
stoif — the  two  latter  being  in  the  interest  of  Austria. 
England  would  be  represented  only  by  Lord  Stew 
art,  English  Ambassador  at  Vienna.  He  also  told 
me,  that  Russia  had  obtained  a  loan  of  forty  mil 
lions  of  rubles  from  the  Barings  and  Hope,  and  that 
Austria  had  got  a  small  one  from  Rothschild,  but 
none  whatever  from  the  British  Government,  or 
under  its  guarantee;  adding  his  belief,  that  the 
British  Government  had  refused,  either  to  lend  or 
guarantee,  as  the  object  of  the  loan  connected  itself 
with  meditated  hostilities  by  Austria  against  Naples. 
At  table,  I  had  Lord  Mansfield  next  to  me.  He 
stands  next  but  one,  in  that  title,  to  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Mansfield,  who  has  so  much  fame  with  the 
bar  and  bench  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  Eng 
land,  having  succeeded  to  the  title  as  his  great 
nephew.  I  asked,  if  the  destruction  of  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice's  papers  had  been  entire,  in  the  attack 
upon  his  house  in  Bloomsbury  Square,  during  the 
riots  of  Lord  George  Gordon.  He  said,  yes — nothing 
had  been  saved.  I  then  referred  to  Bissett's  account 
of  that  transaction,  in  his  history  of  George  III., 
recalling  the  incident  of  the  Chief  Justice  having 
found  refuge  with  the  Royal  Family,  at  Bucking 
ham  House,  for  the  first  few  days  after  the  burning 


352  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

of  his  own,  where  the  Queen  had  been  so  charmed 
with  his  conversation.  His  lordship,  smiling,  said, 
that  the  incident,  however  prettily  related,  as  far  as 
he  was  informed,  had  never  happened ! 

Some  fine  Burgundy  circulating  round  the  table, 
it  was  said  to  be  the  product  of  a  vineyard  in  France, 
eight  hundred  years  old. 

November  22.  Dined  at  Mr.  Coutts  Trotter's,  at 
his  villa,  Bransbury,  three  miles  from  town,  where 
we  had  Lord  Erskine,  Sir  Edmund  Antrobus,  Mr. 
Planta,  Captain  Lindsay,  and  the  ladies  of  Mr. 
Trotter's  family,  my  wife  being  also  of  the  party. 
Lord  Erskine  did  us  the  favor  to  take  a  seat  in  our 
carriage. 

On  the  way  out,  he  was  full  of  sprightliness. 
Always  straight-forward  and  powerful  at  the  bar  and 
in  Parliament,  this  distinguished  Peer  indulges  in 
eccentricities  in  conversation.  "England"  said  he, 
"is  a  blackguard  country"  "A  great  country,"  I 
I  replied.  "  Yes"  said  he,  "a  great  blackguard 
country;  a  boxing,  fighting,  country,  and  don't  you 
call  that  blackguard?"  I  said  that  he  jumped  to  his 
conclusions,  faster  than  I  could  follow.  "Aye"  said 
he,  "you  are  accredited  to  the  King;  but  for  all  that, 
the  King  has  been  constantly  fighting  with  Providence; 
Providence  gave  him  high  endowments,  with  a  fine 
person,  and  had  been  trying  to  make  him  the  head  of  a 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  353 

great  and  glorious  people;  but  the  King  had  been  for 
ever  battling  it  with  him,  and  at  the  end  of  about  the 
thirteenth  round,  with  the  advantage  of  good  bottle 
holders,  he  had  now  fairly  beaten  Providence  off  the 
ground"  Here  he  was  alluding  to  the  case  of  the 
Queen,  whose  cause  he  had  defended  stoutly.  Con 
tinuing  this  lively  strain,  his  lordship  went  on  to  say, 
that  he  had  received  many  letters  from  the  King  in 
the  course  of  his  life,  and  that  nothing  would  now 
gratify  him  so  much  as  an  audience  of  half  an  hour 
with  his  Majesty,  provided  he  would  suffer  him  to 
talk  to  him  as  he  formerly  did — as  a  friend ;  other 
wise,  he  would  make  his  bow  after  the  first  saluta 
tion;  but  he  humbly  thought  he  could  render  him 
so  popular,  that  he  might  dismiss  his  royal  stud  of 
horses  and  trust  to  his  people  in  all  parts  of  the  king 
dom,  to  draw  his  carriages  wherever  he  wanted  to  go. 
When  we  got  to  Mr.  Trotter's,  his  lordship  kept 
up  his  sprightly  vein  at  table.  He  gave  us  an 
account  of  his  country  seat  at  Hampstead,  where 
Burke  used  to  visit  him.  "  I  believe,"  said  Mr. 
Trotter,  "  the  soil  is  not  the  best  in  that  part  of 
Hampstead  where  your  seat  is."  "  No,  very  bad," 
he  replied,  "  for  although  my  grandfather  was  buried 
there  an  Earl  near  a  hundred  years  ago,  what  has 
sprouted  up  from  it  since  but  a  baron."  He  alluded 
to  his  own  title.  He  mentioned  a  fact,  however, 
going  to  show,  that  although  the  soil  yielded  no  in- 

30* 


354  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

crease  in  titles  of  nobility,  it  did  in  other  things;  for 
in  his  description,  he  referred  to  a  chestnut  tree  upon 
it,  which,  when  he  first  went  to  live  there,  his  gar 
dener  bought  at  a  nursery  garden  for  six  pence,  and 
that  it  now  yielded  him  thirty  pounds  a  year.  Con 
versation  like  this,  and  more  from  him  on  other  sub 
jects,  was  intermingled  with  good  contributions  from 
the  rest  of  the  company.  His  lordship  returned  with 
us  in  our  carriage,  with  no  diminution  of  his  spright- 
liness. 

November  23.  Parliament  was  prorogued  until  the 
23d  of  January.  An  unusual  scene  was  witnessed  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  The  Queen  having  applied 
to  the  ministry  for  a  palace  to  reside  in,  since  the 
bill  of  pains  and  penalties  against  her  was  with 
drawn,  and  her  application  being  refused,  on  the 
ground  that  it  rested  with  Parliament  to  provide  an 
establishment  of  that  kind,  Mr.  Denman,  as  one  of 
her  counsel,  and  also  a  member  of  the  House,  rose 
and  endeavored  to  read  a  message  from  Her  Majesty, 
before  the  usual  forms  of  prorogation  were  gone 
through;  but  he  could  obtain  no  hearing.  Uproar 
and  confusion  followed,  making  it  difficult  to  get 
through  the  forms.  The  prorogation,  however,  was, 
in  the  end,  duly  effected.  The  fact  of  her  sending  a 
message  to  the  House,  may  be  considered  as  in  cha 
racter  with  the  speech  she  was  said  to  have  made, 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  355 

after  the  bill  against  her  had  passed  to  a  second  read 
ing.  Her  counsel  drew  a  protest  against  it,  which 
was  taken  to  her  to  sign.  This  she  did,  with  a 
hearty  good  will,  exclaiming,  as  she  threw  down  the 
pen,  "There,  Regina  still,  in  spite  of  them." 

November  25.  Dine  at  Mr.  Thornhill's,  Blooms- 
bury  Square,  a  director  of  the  East  India  Company. 
It  was  mentioned  at  table,  that  on  the  estate  of  a 
gentleman  in  Glamorganshire,  orange  trees  are  grow 
ing  which  were  brought  over  to  England  in  the 
Spanish  Armada.  The  Spaniards  confidently  ex 
pecting  to  conquer  England,  had  prepared  them 
selves  to  stock  it  with  all  manner  of  good  things ; 
which  may  go  to  the  account  of  the  Spanish  side  of 
the  argument  about  the  Armada,  at  the  dinner  at 
Lord  Lansdowne's. 

December  7.  The  diplomatic  corps,  consisting  of 
all  the  Ministers  Plenipotentiary  in  town  and  their 
ladies,  dine  with  us. 

We  talked  of  the  deliberations  at  Troppeau. 
******  said,  that  the  King  of  Naples  had  been 
invited  to  meet  the  Allied  Sovereigns  in  person,  at 
Layback,  and  that  his  refusal  to  go  would  be  con 
strued  into  not  being  free  within  his  own  dominions, 
and  probably  lead  to  an  invasion  of  Naples  by  an 
Austrian  force.  The  King's  dilemma,  he  remarked, 


356  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

was  very  embarrassing.  The  Allied  Sovereigns 
summoned  him  to  their  presence  under  threats; 
whilst  the  Constitutional  party  and  Carbonari  of  his 
own  country  would  restrain  his  departure.  He  did 
not  know  if  England  and  France  had  protested 
against  an  attack  on  Naples;  his  impression  was, 
that  in  the  present  disturbed  state  of  Italy,  England 
would  observe  a  neutral  policy. 

December  13.  Dined  at  the  French  Ambassa 
dor's.  We  had  all  the  Ambassadors  and  Ministers, 
with  their  ladies;  Lord  Castlereagh,  Lord  Fitzroy 
Somerset,  Mr.  de  Neuman,  Mr.  Chinnery,  and  other 
gentlemen. 

The  Duke  de  Frias,  Spanish  Ambassador,  told 
me  that  the  Allied  Sovereigns  had  "  sent  a  sum 
mons"  for  him,  adding  that  if  he  did  not  obey,  he 
supposed  they  intended  to  send  an  Austrian  army  to 
look  after  him !  He  said  that  by  the  Spanish  Con 
stitution,  the  King  could  not  leave  his  kingdom, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Cortes;  if  he  did,  it 
amounted,  ipso  facto,  to  an  abandonment  of  his 
throne.  He  spoke  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  particularly  of  our  Senate,  which  he  called 
"the  intermediate  body."  You  have  none  su.ch  in 
Spain,  I  remarked,  and  are  therefore  more  demo 
cratic;  we  prefer  two  chambers.  "  It  is  true,"  said 
he,  "we  have  but  one;  and  (pointing  to  the  star 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  357 

which  he  wore)  "though  with  this  on,  I  cannot  find 
fault,  I  think  the  want  of  an  intermediate  body,  a 
defect  in  the  Spanish  Constitution." 

Before  going  to  dinner,  Lord  Castlereagh  ad 
dressed  me  with  great  cordiality,  saying  as  he  came 
up,  "  Why,  I  have  not  seen  you  these  hundred 
years!"  "  My  misfortune,  my  lord,"  I  replied.  "It 
is  a  proof,"  said  he,  "how  smooth  the  waters  are 
between  our  two  countries."  "Then,"  said  I,  "we 
must  contrive  to  ruffle  them  a  little,  if  their  smooth 
ness  is  to  be  followed  by  our  constant  separation!" 
"  No,  no,"  said  he,  "  that  won't  do."  More  passed 
in  the  same  strain,  the  by-standers  of  the  diplomatic 
corps  seeming  to  relish  this  friendly  international 
and  personal  tone  between  us. 

Let  me  here  give  brief  expression  to  a  feeling  I 
often  had  during  my  mission ;  one  which  is  common, 
I  suppose,  to  every  Minister  of  the  United  States 
abroad.  It  is,  his  feeling  of  entire  independence  of 
the  combinations  and  movements  going  on  among 
the  other  powers.  Properly  improved,  this  makes 
his  personal  situation  agreeable,  as  well  with  the 
court  where  he  may  be  residing,  as  with  the  entire 
diplomatic  corps.  For  his  country,  he  has  only  to 
be  just  and  fear  not.  The  smaller  Powers  cannot 
have  this  calm  assurance ;  and  the  representatives  of 
the  Great  Powers  naturally  respect  the  office  of 
American  Minister,  from  a  knowledge  of  the  re- 


358  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

sources,  and  growing  power  of  the  nation  that  sends 
him ;  and  also  (some  of  them)  from  dreaming  of  con 
tingencies  which  may  make  the  friendship  of  the 
"United  States  desirable,  though  their  maxim  be, 
"peace  and  commerce  with  all  nations,  entangling 
alliances  with  none."  One  of  the  members  of  the 
corps  who  witnessed  the  salutations  passing  between 
Lord  Castlereagh  and  myself,  said  to  me  a  few  min 
utes  afterwards,  "  HOWT  happy  you  must  feel  in  these 
times  when  none  of  us  know  wrhat  is  to  happen  in 
Europe — you  belong  to  us,  (meaning  the  corps,)  yet 
are  independent." 

His  lordship  asked  me  if  Mr.  Planta  had  shown 
me  the  letters  from  Sir  Henry  Wellesley  respecting 
the  ratification  of  our  treaty  at  Madrid.  I  said,  not 
yet.  He  replied  that  he  had  requested  him  to  do  so, 
and  would  remind  him  of  it. 

I  then  spoke  to  him  about  the  boundary  line 
under  the  fifth  article  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  asking 
him  if  I  could  be  furnished  with  certain  documents, 
the  general  nature  of  which  I  explained ;  but  as  he 
was  not  at  the  moment  familiar  with  them,  it  was 
agreed  that  I  should  write  him  an  official  note  on 
the  subject. 

December  20.  The  following  letter  to  Mr.  Craw 
ford,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  at  Washington,  be- 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  359 

longing  to  topics  lately  engaging  attention  in  the 
mission,  is  inserted  in  connexion  with  them. 

LONDON,  December  20,  1820. 
DEAR  SIR, 

It  is  time  that  I  wrote  again  to  you,  and  I  feel  my 
delinquency;  but  the  many  calls  upon  the  time  of 
an  American  minister  in  London,  sometimes  make 
it  difficult  to  keep  them  all  under. 

There  seems  a  stagnation  of  public  excitement 
here  at  the  present  moment,  the  case  of  the  Queen 
being  at  an  end.  Of  foreign  politics,  you  are  proba 
bly  in  the  way  of  hearing  more  through  our  minis 
ters  at  the  several  European  capitals,  than  I  can 
write  you  from  this  single  one.  All  eyes  turn 
towards  Italy.  I  believe  it  to  be  certain,  that  the 
Allied  Sovereigns  before  leaving  Troppeau,  deter 
mined  that  the  King  of  Naples  should  be  summoned 
to  meet  them  at  some  place  out  of  his  dominions. 
Should  he  not  obey,  they  will  say  that  his  people 
restrain  him,  and  that  he  is  not  free  in  his  own  states. 
Should  he  go,  his  people  will  say  that  he  is  ruled  by 
foreigners. 

What  part  will  England  act,  should  there  be  war? 
This  is  the  question  which  concerns  the  United 
States.  Ask  her  manufacturers  at  this  juncture, 
and  all  the  operatives  who  depend  upon  them,  if  they 
would  not  like  war?  most  of  them  would  answer 
yes — if  you  push  them.  Ask  her  merchants,  and 


360  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1820. 

all  who  depend  upon  them  ?  you  would  not  get  an 
answer  very  different.  Ask  her  army,  ask  her  navy, 
and  all  dovetailed  in  with  these  great  establishments? 
the  answers  come  by  instinct.  You  have  already 
half  the  nation ;  and  of  those  that  remain,  thousands 
would  join  the  war  chorus.  What  will  follow  ?  I 
should  say  this  :  She  will  remain  neutral  for  awhile, 
draw  up  an  able  state  paper  or  two,  full  of  generali 
ties  against  war,  such  as  all  state  papers  contain ; 
but  be  getting  ready,  (though  she  is  always  ready,) 
to  take  a  hand  in  it.  The  vocation  of  a  prophet  is 
dangerous;  but  were  I  to  prophesy  at  all,  it  would 
be  much  after  the  above  fashion — should  war  really 
break  out  from  the  present  revolutionary  materials 
in  Italy  and  Spain. 

But  ask  her  treasury  you  will  say  ?  I  will  answer 
that  too.  She  has  borne  once,  and  could  again,  the 
property  tax.  This  would  pay  the  interest  on  a  new 
debt  of  three  hundred  millions.  She  could  borrow 
that,  and  more,  from  her  own  people  whenever  she 
chooses.  But  what  would  she  do  when  her  debt 
was  thus  increased,  as  she  could  scarcely  pay  the 
interest  of  it,  and  war  expenses,  and  all  other  ex 
penses,  in  addition,  without  further  loans  ?  I  do  not 
know.  She  will  settle  that  when  the  time  arrives. 
War,  with  all  its  general  havoc,  is  apt  to  open  the 
way  to  new  profits  and  monopolies  to  Britain,  from 
her  sway  on  the  ocean,  and  her  insular  situation, 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  361 

which,  keeps  war  from  her  own  borders.  She  is  a 
gigantic  power,  and  has  gigantic  resources,  many  of 
them  still  undrawn  upon.  I  cannot  see  how  she  is 
to  wind  up,  without  a  financial  convulsion  in  some 
way;  but  although  the  difference  in  figures  would 
be  double  if  her  debt  were  to  be  increased  to  sixteen 
hundred  millions  sterling  by  a  new  war,  she  would 
not  estimate  in  the  same  ratio  an  increase  of  her 
dangers.  She  cannot  pay  off  the  capital  of  eight 
hundred  millions,  nor  do  her  creditors  wish  it ;  and 
this  is  all  you  could  say  of  sixteen  hundred  millions, 
should  her  debt  get  up  to  that  mark.  Should  she 
lower  the  interest,  it  would  only  be  doing  what  she 
has  done  before,  and  she  might  be  able  to  get  the 
consent  of  her  creditors. 

Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  the  bill  of  pains 
and  penalties,  I  anticipate  no  change  in  the  Minis 
try.  Where  would  successors  be  found?  The 
Whigs  have  lost  their  strong  ground,  the  Reformers 
having  taken  it  from  under  them.  They  are  a  party 
of  leaders,  with  no  rank  and  file,  fine  accomplished 
men,  but  as  aristocratic  as  the  tories;  the  descen 
dants  of  the  party  which  converted  parliaments 
from  three  years  into  seven ;  in  fact,  the  party  more 
inclined  at  present,  openly  to  impeach  popular  prin 
ciples,  at  least  those  of  our  government,  than  the 
tories,  lest  they  should  be  suspected  of  republican 
ism.  The  Tories,  having  no  such  fear,  can  afford  to 

31 


362  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

treat  us  better.  Besides,  the  King  does  not  wish,  a 
change  of  Ministers,  as  is  well  understood.  If  he 
consulted  the  public  voice  out  of  doors,  it  would  be 
hard  to  say  where  he  could  get  ministers  more 
popular  (counting  nothing  but  numbers,)  than  those 
he  has;  unless  he  went  among  the  Reformers. 
There  is  no  King  of  England  will  ever  do  this, 
voluntarily.  Popular  government  suits  us  for  a 
thousand  reasons,  but  might  prove  a  very  different 
thing  in  England. 

I  bid  you  adieu  my  dear  Sir,  with  assurances  of 
the  respect  and  esteem  with  which  I  am 
Your  faithful 

friend  and  servant, 
RICHARD  RUSH. 
The  Honorable 

WM.  H.  CRAWFORD, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

December  23.  In  connexion  with  the  Report  on 
the  Foreign  trade  of  England,  made  by  a  select  com 
mittee  of  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  last- 
session  of  Parliament,  which  I  transmitted  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  I  this  day  send  a  dispatch  to  the 
department  on  the  commercial  laws  and  regulations 
of  the  kingdom ;  a  subject  very  complex  and  en 
tangled,  as  the  existence  of  full  ELEVEN  HUNDRED 


1820.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  363 

laws,  ancient  and  modern,  in  the  statute  book  in 
relation  to  it,  may  sufficiently  attest. 

December  28.  Had  an  interview  with  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  at  the  Foreign  office,  sought  on  my  part 
for  the  purpose  of  arranging  further  preliminaries, 
with  a  view  to  the  •umpirage  of  the  Emperor 
of  Russia,  on  the  question  under  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent. 

That  business  gone  through,  his  lordship  referred 
to  the  Florida  Treaty  in  connexion  with  the  corres 
pondence  of  Sir  Henry  Wellesley,  of  which  he  had 
spoken  at  the  French  Ambassador's.  Mr.  Planta 
having  shown  me  the  correspondence,  his  lordship 
said  that  copies  of  the  letters  would  be  at  my  ser 
vice,  if  I  had  any  inclination  for  them.  I  said  that 
they  would  be  very  acceptable,  and  was  accordingly 
supplied  with  them.  In  making  me  acquainted 
with  this  correspondence,  he  remarked,  that  he  did 
not  do  it  in  the  shape  of  an  official  communication, 
but  merely  as  connected  with  all  our  former  conver 
sations  on  the  subject,  now  brought  to  a  conclu 
sion. 

The  correspondence  consisted  of  an  official  letter 
from  Evaristo  Perez  de  Castro,  Minister  of  State  to 
the  King  of  Spain,  to  Sir  Henry  Wellesley,  British 
Ambassador  at  Madrid,  and  the  Ambassador's  an 
swer.  I  subjoin  a  copy  of  each : 


364  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1820. 

PALACE,  October  16,  1820. 
SIR, 

The  Cortes  of  the  Kingdom  having  authorized  His 
Majesty  to  cede  the  Floridas  to  the  United  States  as 
is  stipulated  in  one  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty  enter 
ed  into  between  Spain  and  that  Power  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  February,  1819,  the  King  has  determined 
to  proceed  to  the  ratification  of  that  treaty,  which,  as 
yet,  has  not  been  carried  into  effect  on  his  part. 

His  Majesty  in  commanding  me  to  communicate 
to  your  Excellency  his  resolution  upon  this  point  for 
the  information  of  your  Government,  is  persuaded 
that  his  Britannic  Majesty,  who  is  aware  of  the  prin 
cipal  events  of  that  long  and  important  negotiation, 
will  not  fail  to  see  with  pleasure  that  the  speedy 
ratification  of  that  treaty,  will  put  an  end  to  the 
differences  which  existed  between  the  two  nations, 
and  will  insure  to  Spain  those  relations  of  friendship 
and  harmony  which  she  is  anxious  to  maintain  with 
the  government  of  the  United  States. 

Signed, 

EVARISTO  PEREZ  DE  CASTRO. 

The  Ambassador's  Answer. 

The  undersigned,  &,c.  &,c.,  requests  his  Excel 
lency  the  Minister  of  State,  to  accept  his  acknow 
ledgments  for  the  note  which  he  has  done  him  the 
honor  to  address  to  him,  apprizing  him  of  His  Catho- 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  365 

lie  Majesty's  intention  to  proceed  forthwith  to  the  rati 
fication  of  the  treaty  with  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  by  an  article  of  which  the  Floridas 
are  ceded. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  negotiations  which 
have  led  to  this  treaty,  His  Britannic  Majesty,  in  his 
zeal  for  the  interests  of  his  Ally,  and  laying  aside 
every  consideration  as  to  what  might  be  most  condu 
cive  to  his  own  interests,  announced  to  His  Catholic 
Majesty  his  resolution  not  to  oppose  any  arrange 
ment  which  was  calculated  to  put  an  end  to  the 
differences  between  Spain  and  the  United  States, 
and  to  establish  their  future  relations  upon  an  amica 
ble  footing. 

To  this  resolution  His  Majesty's  government  has 
invariably  adhered. 

The  undersigned  is  therefore  persuaded  that  the 
communication  which  His  Excellency  the  Minister 
of  State  has  enabled  him  to  make  to  his  government, 
will  be  received  by  it  with  sentiments  of  the  highest 
satisfaction. 

The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this  opportu 
nity,  &c.  &c.  &c. 
Signed, 

H.  WELLESLEY. 

MADRID,  October  17.  1820. 

It  was  with  great  satisfaction,  that  I  transmitted 


366  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1820. 

to  my  Government  the  foregoing  correspondence, 
confirming,  as  it  did,  Lord  Castlereagh's  uniform 
declarations  to  me  on  this  subject,  from  the  evening 
I  first  informally  opened  it  to  him,  when  we  met 
at  the  Prince  Regent's  entertainment  at  Carlton 
House. 

December  31.  Passed  last  evening  at  Prince 
Esterhazy's.  The  Secretary  of  the  French  Em 
bassy,  who  was  there,  gave  me  to  understand,  that 
there  was  no  foundation  for  the  newspaper  assertions 
of  a  treaty  of  commerce  being  on  foot  between  France 
and  England,  though  made  so  confidently.  In  con 
versation  with  the  Prince,  he  spoke  of  the  members 
of  the  Austrian  Imperial  family,  saying  that  they 
were  characterized  by  unostentatious  habits  and  pri 
vate  worth.  He  spoke  chiefly  of  the  Emperor;  said 
that  his  palaces,  for  the  most  part,  were  plain,  and 
furnished  with  simplicity;  that  all  persons  could 
have  access  to  him  who  wished  it — scarcely  were 
the  humblest  excluded ;  there  was  no  previous  scru 
tiny  into  their  pretensions,  and  only  very  slight 
previous  forms  necessary.  He  ascribed  all  this  to 
the  Emperor's  disposition,  which  he  represented  as 
very  mild  and  paternal.  We  spoke  of  European 
politics,  and  the  deliberations  at  Troppeau.  I  asked 
whether,  in  case  of  a  campaign  in  Italy,  the  Arch- 


1820.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  367 

duke  Charles  would  be  likely  to  take  the  field.  He 
said  that  he  did  not  know,  but  that  his  health  was 
better  than  for  the  last  ten  years,  adding  that  it  was 
understood  he  was  engaged  in  drawing  up  the 
memoirs  of  his  military  life,  and  in  carrying  still 
further  his  studies  upon  the  art  of  war. 


368  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1821. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


PARTY  AT  THE   RUSSIAN  AMBASSADOR'S — CERTAIN  DU 
TIES    OF    BRITISH    AMBASSADORS    AND    MINISTERS 

LANGUAGE  OF  OFFICIAL  DIPLOMATIC  NOTES.      LEVEE 

AT    CARLTON    PALACE SPECIAL    AUDIENCE    OF    THE 

KING  TO  DELIVER  AUTOGRAPH  LETTERS  FROM  THE 
PRESIDENT,  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  DUCHESS  OF 
YORK,  AND  RECALL  OF  SIR  CHARLES  BAGOT  FROM  HIS 
MISSION  TO  WASHINGTON.  THE  CORONATION.  DIN 
NER  AT  THE  MARQUIS  OF  LONDONDERRY'S,  (LATE 
LORD  CASTLEREAGH.)  FETE  CHAMPETRE  AT  NORTH 
CRAY,  GIVEN  BY  THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  LONDON 
DERRY  IN  HONOR  OF  THE  CORONATION.  DINNER 
AT  THE  KING'S.  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON  GIVES 
A  DINNER  IN  HONOR  OF  THE  CORONATION,  AT  WHICH 
THE  KING  IS  HIS  GUEST.  BALL  GIVEN  BY  THE 
DUKE  DE  GRAMMONT,  SPECIAL  AMBASSADOR  FROM 
FRANCE,  IN  HONOR  OF  THE  CORONATION,  WHICH 
THE  KING  ATTENDS. 

1821.     January  4.     Last  night  I  was  at  the  Rus 
sian  Ambassador's.     Mr.  Planta  was  there,  and  we 


1321.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  369 

had  conversation  on  the  customs  of  this  and  other 
governments,  in  regard  to  Foreign  Ministers.  He 
said  that  their's,  (the  British,)  had  instructions  to 
write  a  dispatch,  under  all  ordinary  circumstances, 
at  least  once  a  fortnight;  but  that  this  number  was 
apt  to  be  much  exceeded  in  point  of  fact.  He  said, 
also,  that  they  were  instructed  to  make  a  separate 
dispatch,  as  far  as  possible,  of  every  separate  piece 
of  business,  and  that  this  often  made  the  number 
received  very  great;  as,  for  example,  from  their 
Ambassador  in  Paris,  from  whom  they  received 
every  mail-day,  which  recurred  twice  a  week,  two 
or  three  dispatches — seldom  fewer — he  should  think 
it  not  improbable,  that  full  three  hundred  had 
been  received  during  the  year  just  ended.  In 
numbering  their  dispatches,  their  Ambassadors  and 
Ministers  began  afresh,  with  every  new  year;  and 
it  was  also  made  their  duty  to  number  the  dispatches 
on  the  outside,  as  well  as  to  indorse  upon  them  a 
short  abstract  of  the  subject.  They  thus  arrived 
ready  for  the  files  of  the  Foreign  Office,  after  being 
read,  and  in  a  state  to  be  conveniently  referred  to 
when  wanted. 

In  answer  to  my  inquiries  as  to  the  language  em 
ployed  in  diplomatic  notes  in  London,  he  said,  that 
this  government  was  now  pushing  the  English  lan 
guage  more  than  at  any  former  period.  Sir  Henry 
Wellesley,  at  Madrid,  for  instance,  addressed  the 


370  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1821. 

Spanish  government  in  English;  in  retaliation  of 
which  the  Spanish  Ambassador  in  London,  addres 
sed  his  notes  to  Lord  Castlereagh  in  Spanish.  The 
Ambassadors  and  Ministers  of  all  the  other  powers, 
he  said,  the  United  States  excepted,  (courteously 
alluding  to  the  community  of  the  English  tongue 
between  us,)  wrote  to  Lord  Castlereagh  in  French; 
but  that  the  answers  were  uniformly  in  English. 
Formerly  the  answers  had  been  generally  in  French. 
It  was  Lord  Grenville,  who,  whilst  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  first  broke  in  upon  the  use  of 
French. 

January  26.  Attended  the  levee  at  Carlton 
Palace,  and  had  a  special  audience  of  the  King  for 
the  purpose  of  presenting  two  autograph  letters 
from  the  President,  in  reply  to  two  from  the  King ; 
one  announcing  the  death  of  the  Duchess  of  York, 
the  other  relating  to  the  recall  of  Sir  Charles  Bagot 
from  his  mission  to  Washington.  In  delivering  the 
former,  I  said  that  I  was  instructed  to  express  the 
sincere  concern  which  the  President  always  felt  in 
any  event  which  affected  personally  the  happiness 
of  His  Majesty,  or  any  of  the  Royal  Family ;  and 
that  in  delivering  the  latter,  I  was  specially  directed 
to  make  known  the  entire  satisfaction  which  the 
conduct  of  Sir  Charles  Bagot  had  given  to  my  gov 
ernment,  during  his  residence  in  the  United  States ; 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  371 

and  also  the  satisfaction  with  which  the  President 
had  received  from  his  successor,  assurances  of  the 
continuation  of  His  Majesty's  good  will  towards  the 
United  States. 

On  the  latter  head,  the  King  replied  in  expres 
sions,  and  with  a  manner,  of  more  than  usual  cordi 
ality  and  earnestness.  He  said,  that  it  was  his  most 
sincere  and  anxious  desire  to  see  harmony  kept  up 
between  the  two  nations ;  that  he  rejoiced  at  its  en 
tire  existence  at  the  present  time,  and  could  give  me 
the  fullest  assurances  that  nothing  should  be  want 
ing  on  his  part,  to  render  it  permanent,  for  which 
there  were  the  strongest  motives  on  both  sides.  He 
added,  (for  I  am  bound  to  give  his  words  as  his 
Minister  heard  them,  and  they  were  known  to  his 
Cabinet,)  that  my  conduct  had  been  always  in  the 
spirit  of  conciliation,  since  I  had  been  at  his  Court ; 
and  that  there  were  occasions  when  the  exercise  of 
such  a  spirit  had  been  useful,  and  acceptable  to  this 
government.  He  remarked  further,  that  he  would 
not  rest  content  with  directing  his  Minister  (turning 
to  Lord  Castlereagh  who  stood  by  him)  to  tell  me 
so,  but  was  happy  to  take  this  opportunity  of  saying 
so  to  me  in  person. 

I  answered,  that  I  felt  honored  by  His  Majesty's 
words ;  that  I  well  knew  that  I  should  not  earn  His 
Majesty's  respect,  unless  I  consulted,  primarily,  the 
interests  of  my  own  country ;  but  that,  in  doing  so, 


372  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1821. 

it  was  the  first  wish  of  my  heart  to  be  instrumental 
towards  maintaining  harmony  between  the  two 
nations ;  and  if  my  duty  had  been  discharged  in  a 
manner  to  be  acceptable  to  His  Majesty,  it  was  a 
source  of  high  satisfaction  to  me.  The  audience 
here  closed. 

I  saw  Lord  Castlereagh  before  the  levee  was  over. 
He  alluded  to  what  had  passed  at  the  audience ;  on 
which  I  expressed  anew  the  satisfaction  it  had 
afforded  me,  feeling  sure  that  his  lordship  had  pre 
pared  the  way  for  what  the  King  said. 

July  20.  Yesterday  the  Coronation  was  celebrated 
in  all  pomp.  For  two  or  three  days  preceding, 
princes,  legislators,  statesmen,  bishops,  philosophers, 
warriors,  the  young  and  old,  grave  and  gay,  tory 
and  whig,  nobleman  and  commoner,  rich  and  poor, 
seem  all,  more  or  less,  to  have  been  talking  about  it. 
The  Potentates  of  Europe  sent  over  their  special 
Ambassadors  in  honor  of  it.  France  hers,  in  the 
person  of  the  Duke  de  Grammont ;  Russia  hers,  in 
Count  Stackelberg ;  Austria  hers,  in  the  elder  Prince 
Esterhazy;  Prussia  hers,  in  Prince  Hatzfeldt — all 
arriving  with  their  retinues ;  and  the  smaller  powers 
doing  reverence  to  the  occasion  in  the  same  way, 
though  on  a  reduced  scale  of  representation.  All 
this  may  incite  the  representative  of  the  United 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  373 

States  to  a  few  words,  on  the  general  subject,  whilst 
making  a  minute  of  the  connexion  he  had  with  it. 

The  first  notice  of  it  that  came  to  me  in  an  official 
form,  was  in  the  shape  of  a  note  from  Sir  Robert 
Chester,  the  Master  of  Ceremonies,  dated  the  fifteenth 
of  June.  This  informed  me  that  the  Coronation  was 
to  take  place  on  the  nineteenth  of  July,  and  that  a 
space  would  be  allotted  in  Westminster  Hall  and 
Westminster  Abbey  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Foreign  Ministers  and  their  families,  and  a  portion 
of  the  strangers  belonging  to  their  respective  courts, 
who  might  happen  to  be  in  town  and  had  been  pre 
viously  presented  to  the  King ;  and  I  was  requested 
to  make  an  early  return  of  the  individuals  of  my 
family,  and  of  my  "  Court/'  to  whom  I  considered 
it  proper  that  invitations  should  be  sent.  To  this 
note  I  replied  in  due  form. 

The  further  notices  which  I  received  from  the 
same  source  as  the  time  drew  near,  consisted  of  six 
different  papers,  as  follow :  1 .  A  paper  on  which 
were  laid  down  the  routes  and  streets  which  all 
carriages  were  to  take  in  conveying  persons  to  and 
from  the  Hall  and  Abbey.  These  were  settled  by 
the  Privy  Council  as  the  paper  stated,  which  was 
signed  by  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  De 
partment.  2.  An  engraved  map  of  the  whole  course. 
3.  Instructions  signed  by  the  Master  of  Ceremonies 
in  regard  to  dress.  4.  My  tickets  of  admission  to 


374  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1821. 

the  Hall,  signed  by  Lord  Gwyder,  as  Deputy  Lord 
Great  Chamberlain.  5.  Similar  tickets  of  admission 
to  the  Abbey,  signed  by  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham, 
who  acted  for  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  as  Earl  Marshal 
of  England.  6.  Eight  printed  sheets  in  folio,  con 
taining  a  full  account  in  detail  of  all  the  ceremonies 
to  be  witnessed  in  the  Hall  and  Abbey. 

So  prepared,  I  set  out  with  my  suite  at  six  in  the 
morning.  After  various  perils  to  my  carriage,  we 
reached  Westminster  Hall  at  about  eight ;  for  it  took 
us  that  length  of  time  to  arrive,  although  the  dis 
tance  was  not  more  than  three  miles  from  my  resi 
dence.  The  route  for  the  Foreign  Ambassadors  and 
'  Ministers,  was  down  Grosvenor  Place,  along  Mil- 
bank,  through  Abingdon  street,  and  in  that  way  to 
the  House  of  Lords.  We  should  not  have  arrived 
so  soon,  but  that  the  carriage  of  the  Austrian  Ambas 
sador,  Prince  Esterhazy,  which  headed  our  line, 
manoeuvred  bravely;  the  throng  of  carriages  being 
so  great  at  some  points,  that  it  became  impossible  to 
keep  the  exact  order  laid  down.  The  morning  was 
fine,  which  made  the  equipages  and  troops  a  brilliant 
sight.  Even  at  that  early  hour,  windows  and  front 
doors  were  crowded  with  people,  looking  at  the  car 
riages  of  the  ambassadors  and  nobility  with  richly 
dressed  persons  inside,  as  they  passed  in  procession 
to  the  great  pageant  of  the  day. 

The  box  prepared  for  the  Foreign  Ambassadors 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  375 

and  Ministers,  was  at  the  south  end  of  the  Hall, 
immediately  opposite  the  one  fitted  up  for  the  Royal 
Family.  It  bordered  upon  the  royal  platform  and 
was  near  the  Throne.  When  we  entered,  the  hall 
was  already  filled  with  Peers,  Peeresses,  their  daugh 
ters,  and  others,  all  in  rich  array.  Heralds  at  arms 
were  engaged  in  quietly  arranging  the  various  per 
sonages  among  the  nobility,  and  others,  who  were 
to  move  in  the  procession  from  the  Hall  to  the 
Abbey.  Suddenly,  there  was  a  pause  and  perfect 
stillness.  This  betokened  the  entrance  of  the  King, 
who  came  into  the  Hall  at  about  ten  o'clock  in  full 
state.  All  in  the  galleries  rose,  and  continued  to 
stand  up.  When  the  King  was  seated,  he  turned 
first  towards  the  box  of  the  Royal  Family,  and  bow 
ed  ;  then  did  the  same  towards  that  in  which  were 
the  Foreign  Ambassadors  and  Ministers.  I  cannot 
attempt  to  describe  the  ceremonies  which  passed 
after  the  King  came  in,  until  the  procession  moved, 
they  were  so  numerous.  Of  the  successive  groups 
who  made  reverences  before  him  previously  to  des 
cending  the  steps  of  the  royal  platform  to  assume 
their  places  in  the  grand  procession,  the  Royal 
Dukes,  Prince  Leopold,  and  the  Marquis  of  London 
derry,  were  especially  observable,  by  the  parts  and 
costumes  assigned  to  them.  Some  of  these  wore 
robes,  and  a  hat  looped  up  with  the  black  heron 
feather,  whilst  others  had  white  plumes. 


376  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1821. 

In  an  hour  or  less  the  procession  began  to  move 
through  the  street,  which,  by  a  space  here  opening 
wide,  leads  across  to  Westminster  Abbey.  The 
King  went  under  a  canopy  of  cloth  of  gold,  borne 
over  him  with  attendant  pomp.  But  the  part  of  the 
procession  which  seemed  most  regarded  by  many, 
was  Miss  Fellowes,  the  herb  woman,  dressed  in 
white ;  who,  with  her  six  young  ladies  in  attendance, 
strewed  flowers  along  the  raised  way  of  the  proces 
sion,  as  the  Royal  Canopy  and  train  were  moving 
from  the  Hall  to  the  Abbey.  It  took  some  time  to 
reach  the  Abbey,  so  slow  was  the  movement.  The 
streets,  windows,  house-tops,  chimney-tops,  were  fill 
ed  with  people  gazing  at  it.  It  was  the  only  part  of 
the  ceremonial  exhibited  out  of  doors,  and  was  very 
gorgeous. 

The  Diplomatic  Corps,  including  the  special  Am 
bassadors  and  their  suite,  went  from  the  House  of 
Lords  to  the  Abbey,  through  a  covered  passage  hung 
with  crimson,  which  had  been  prepared  for  the 
Royal  Family,  the  Corps,  and  the  Peeresses,  and  was 
erected  entirely  across  the  street.  In  the  Abbey,  we 
found  our  accommodations  such  as  they  had  been  in 
the  Hall,  an  ample  box  opposite  to  that  of  the  Royal 
Family.  In  the  Abbey  it  was,  that  the  actual  crown 
ing  took  place;  but  not  until  various  other  cere 
monies,  solemn  in  tone,  had  been  performed.  A 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  Archbishop  of  York ; 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  377 

text,  uHe  that  ruleth  over  men  must  be  just,  ruling 
in  the  fear  of  God."  Of  the  religious  and  state  cere 
monies,  the  coronation  oath  was  most  important,  It 
was,  as  lawyers  might  say,  the  gist  of  the  whole  case, 
marking  the  transmission  of  the  English  throne  to  a 
new  monarch.  The  King  took  it  with  much  solem 
nity,  kissed  the  book,  and  signed  the  oath.  Its  pur 
port  was,  that  he  would  govern  the  realm  according 
to  the  laws  of  Parliament,  cause  justice  to  be  execu 
ted  in  mercy,  and  maintain  the  Protestant  religion  as 
established  by  law.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
administered  the  oath  and  put  the  crown  on.  Then 
followed  the  homage  and  other  ceremonies,  amongst 
which  was  that  of  each  Peer  putting  on  his  coronet  at 
a  given  moment ;  a  movement  done  simultaneously 
with  military  exactness  and  effect.  It  took  us  by 
surprise,  seeming  like  a  hundred  coronations  all  at 
once. 

The  Marquis  of  Anglesey,  as  Lord  High  Steward, 
carried  the  crown  up  to  the  altar,  before  the  Arch 
bishop  placed  it  on  the  King's  head.  It  was  heavy 
with  diamonds  and  other  precious  stones,  and  slipped 
from  his  hands;  but  the  gallant  Marquis,  though 
with  but  one  leg  to  stand  upon,  having  lost  the  other 
at  Waterloo,  dexterously  recovered  it,  so  that  it  did 
not  fall. 

The  state  and  religious  ceremonies  in  the  Abbey, 
which  took  up  a  long  time,  being  finished,  the  King 


378  RESIDENCE    AT  THE  [1821. 

and  whole  assemblage  returned  to  the  Hall.  There, 
the  scene  assumed  a  new  character.  There,  it  had 
its  chief  splendor.  It  became  in  a  high  degree  pic 
turesque  and  animating.  Whilst  all  were  absent  in 
the  Abbey,  the  banquet  was  preparing  in  the  Hall. 
The  King  was  yet  to  dine  in  presence  of  his  nobility 
and  other  subjects,  and  all  his  coronation  guests;  and 
%  all  these  were  also  to  dine.  The  table  for  the  King's 
banquet,  was  spread  on  the  royal  platform.  The 
Foreign  Ambassadors  and  Ministers  had  theirs  in 
the  painted  chamber  of  the  House  of  Lords,  a  com 
municating  apartment  under  the  same  roof;  but 
we  rose  from  it  soon  to  come  into  the  Hall — the 
centre  of  all  attraction.  The  Peeresses,  Peers,  and 
others  associated  with  them,  had  their  banquet  in 
the  body  of  the  Hall.  Here,  six  long  tables  were 
laid,  three  on  each  side,  leaving  a  vista,  or  aisle,  open 
in  the  middle,  which  directly  faced  the  royal  plat 
form.  The  platform  and  all  the  seats  were  covered 
with  crimson;  which,  with  the  Peeresses  richly 
dressed,  and  the  plate  on  the  banqueting  tables,  and 
the  company  all  seated,  with  the  King  at  the  head  of 
his  table,  shaped  as  a  crescent,  so  that  he  and  the 
few  seated  on  his  right  and  left  faced  the  whole  com 
pany,  made  the  spectacle  extremely  magnificent. 
The  comptroller  and  clerks  of  the  kitchen,  and  pur 
veyor  of  wines,  had  not,  as  may  be  imagined,  over 
looked  their  duties !  But  when  the  CHAMPION  ap- 


1821.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  379 

peared  at  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  Hall,  directly 
in  front  of  the  King,  nothing  seen  at  first  but  tufts  of 
luxuriant  plumes  waving  from  his  horse's  head,  and 
his  own  helmet,  startling  emotions  arose.  Curiosity 
was  breathless  to  see  the  development  of  what  was 
coming.  He  was  attended  by  Howard  of  Effing- 
ham  ;  and  by  Anglesey ;  and  by  another  greater  than 
all,  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON;  arid  as  these,  all 
on  horseback,  now  entered  abreast,  the  champion 
heralding  his  challenge,  and  the  horses  seeming  al 
most  in  contact  with  the  outward  line  of  Peeresses  at 
their  banqueting  table,  yet  obedient  to  the  bit,  which 
they  kept  champing;  as  this  equestrian  train  slowly 
advanced,  in  martial  grace  and  strength,  up  the  aisle 
towards  the  King,  all  eyes  were  soon  turned  upon 
one  person  in  it.  In  vain  did  the  sun,  through  the 
vast  old  Gothic  edifice,  throw  beams  upon  the 
bright  and  heavy  armor  of  the  champion;  in  vain — 
when  the  horses,  reaching  by  slow,  impatient,  steps 
the  top  of  the  aisle,  and  proudly  halting  at  the  steps 
of  the  royal  platform — that  the  steel-clad  champion 
again  put  forth  his  challenge,  threw  down  his  glove, 
received  the  cup  from  his  Sovereign,  and  drank  to 
his  Sovereign: — in  vain  all  this:  the  beauty  and 
chivalry  at  the  banqueting  tables,  still  looked  at  the 
DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON;  still  kept  their  eyes  on  the 
man  whose  person  and  horse  recalled,  not  war  in 
romance,  but  in  its  stern  and  recent  realities.  All 


380  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1821. 

were  at  gaze  upon  him;  fixed,  silent.  He  was  ha 
bited  only  as  a  Peer ;  had  only  his  staff  as  Lord  High 
Constable;  yet  was  he  the  observed  of  all.  Nowhere 
was  he  more  eyed,  than  from  the  box  where  sat  the 
assembled  Ambassadors  of  the  Potentates  of  Europe. 
Judging  from  opinion  in  that  box,  there  was  nothing 
in  the  elaborate  grandeur  of  the  day  to  rival  this 
scene.  It  was  the  inherent  preeminence  of  a  great 
man,  exalting  moral  admiration  above  the  show  of  a 
whole  kingdom.* 

I  got  home  from  it  all  by  nine  o'clock  in  the  even 
ing.  Many  were  detained  until  midnight.  An  illu 
mination  followed.  In  divers  parts  of  the  town,  fire 
works  were  let  off,  balloons  sent  up,  cannon  made  to 
roar,  bells  to  ring,  the  theatres  were  opened  gratis, 
and  the  whole  night  went  off  amidst  the  general 
huzzas  of  John  Bull. 

In  due  time,  Sir  Robert  Chester  waited  upon  me 
with  a  coronation  medal,  of  which  he  asked  my 
acceptance.  It  was  of  gold,  with  a  bust  of  the  King 

*  "  The  Champion,"  was  Mr.  Dymoke,  who  claimed  that  office  by  heredi 
tary  right  from  an  age  long  back.  The  following  were  the  words  of  his 
challenge :  "  If  any  person,  of  what  degree  soever,  high  or  low,  shall  deny  or 
gainsay  our  Sovereign  Lord  King  George  the  Fourth,  of  the  United  Kingdom 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  son  and  next  heir  to  our 
Sovereign  Lord  King  George  the  Third,  the  last  King,  deceased,  to  be  right 
heir  to  the  imperial  crown  of  this  United  Kingdom,  or  that  he  ought  not  to 
enjoy  the  same,  here  is  his  Champion,  who  saith  that  he  lieth,  and  is  a  false 
traitor ;  being  ready  in  person  to  combat  with  him,  and  in  this  quarrel  will 
adventure  his  life  against  him  on  what  day  soever  he  shall  be  appointed." 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  381 

on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  several  emblematical 
representations,  including  Britannia  with  Neptune's 
trident.  One  of  these  medals,  he  said,  was  due  by 
ancient  custom  to  every  Minister  Plenipotentiary  at 
the  English  Court  when  the  King  was  crowned;  he 
was  distributing  them,  and  was  happy  to  hand  me 
mine.  I  declined  it,  with  expressions  of  respect 
towards  His  Majesty  proper  to  be  used,  and  under 
every  sensibility  to  the  honor  of  being  invited  to  his 
coronation;  but  alleged  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  prohibited  their  Foreign  Ministers 
receiving  a  present  from  any  Foreign  Prince  or 
Potentate.  Sir  Robert,  with  his  usual  courtesy, 
then  tendered  it  to  Mrs.  Rush,  saying  that  our  Con 
stitution  surely  did  not  mention  the  ladies !  But 
here  I  was  driven  to  quote  the  old  common  law  upon 
him,  which  was  part  of  our  inheritance  in  the  United 
States,  and  a  good  inheritance  we  thought  it,  though 
it  did,  ungallantly,  make  the  wife's  gold  the  hus 
band's;  so  that  it  ended  in  our  losing  the  medal  both 
ways.  These  medals  had  been  showered  about  the 
Abbey  according  to  usage,  when  the  coronation  was 
over,  just  before  we  returned  to  the  kingly  festivities 
of  the  hall ;  festivities  which,  truth  to  say,  recalled 
something  of  thejield  of  gold  cloth  of  the  time  of  the 
Tudors,  and  images  of  splendor  from  tournaments  of 
the  Plantagenets. 


382  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1821. 

July  21.  Dined  at  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry's, 
late  Lord  Castlereagh,  who  has  succeeded  to  the 
title  of  his  father,  the  late  Marquis  of  Londonderry, 
who  died  in  April.  We  had  all  the  special  Ambas 
sadors  ;  also  the  resident  corps,  the  Duke  of  Wel 
lington,  Lord  Burghersh,  Sir  Henry  Wellesley,  Lord 
Clanwilliam,  Count  Metternich,  and  General  Count 
Woronzoff,  who  commanded  the  Russian  army  of 
occupation  in  France.  My  seat  at  table  was  next  to 
Count  Woronzoff,  and  I  was  favored  with  much  of 
his  conversation. 

July  23.  Went  to  the  Marchioness  of  London 
derry's  fete  champetre,  at  North  Cray,  given  in 
honor  of  the  coronation.  All  the  special  Ambassa 
dors  with  their  suite,  were  there ;  also  the  Cabinet 
Ministers,  the  resident  Ambassadors  and  Ministers, 
with  groups  of  the  nobility  and  others.  The  com 
pany  were  received  on  the  lawn,  where  ornamental 
tents  were  pitched,  and  three  bands  of  music  sta 
tioned.  The  effect  was  heightened  by  the  appear 
ance,  at  a  little  distance  off,  of  the  surrounding 
villagers  and  country  people,  who  had  assembled  as 
lookers-on  beyond  the  line  of  invisible  fences  and 
rural  barriers,  which  skirted  the  lawn.  But  this 
rural  scene,  like  many  other  enchantments,  was  des 
tined  soon  to  vanish;  for  alas,  showers  came  on 
which  drove  us  under  the  tents  and  into  the  man- 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  383 

sion.  At  about  five  o'clock,  we  sat  down  in  the 
latter  to  a  dejune  a  la  fourchette,  and  got  back  to 
town  a  little  after  night-fall,  the  road  alive  with  the 
gay  equipages  of  such  a  company. 

July  25.  Attend  the  levee.  The  rooms  are 
thronged,  under  excitements  in  the  gay  world  of 
London,  from  the  coronation. 

July  26.  Dined  at  the  King's.  The  dinner  was 
given  to  the  Special  Ambassadors,  sent  by  their 
respective  sovereigns  to  do  honor  to  the  Coronation, 
and  to  all  the  resident  Diplomatic  Corps,  Ambassa 
dors  and  Ministers ;  but  included  none  below  the 
rank  of  Minister  Plenipotentiary.  Of  the  Royal 
Dukes,  there  were  present  the  Duke  of  York,  Duke 
of  Clarence  and  Duke  of  Cambridge.  The  addi 
tional  guests,  were  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  the 
Duke  of  Montrose,  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry, 
and  Lord  Francis  Conyngham. 

We  were  invited  at  seven  o'clock.  As  my  car 
riage  turned  into  Pall  Mall  from  the  foot  of  St. 
James's  street,  the  old  clock  at  St.  James'  struck 
seven ;  and  before  I  reached  Carlton  Palace,  all  the 
carriages  appeared  to  be  entering  or  coming  out 
through  the  double  gates  in  front  of  the  Palace. 
Mine  was  among  the  last  that  drove  up  to  the  por 
tico,  and  by  a  very  few  minutes  past  seven,  all  the 


384  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1821. 

guests,  save  one,  were  assembled  in  the  reception 
rooms.  I  had  never  before  witnessed  such  punctu 
ality  at  any  dinner  in  England. 

The  King  entered  a  minute  or  two  afterwards, 
and  saluted  his  guests  generally;  then  went  the 
rounds,  speaking  to  each  individually.  With  the 
special  Ambassadors,  he  paused  longest.  Time  had 
now  run  on  to  more  than  a  quarter  past  seven. 
Still,  one  of  the  guests  had  not  yet  arrived,  and  that 
one  was  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Five  minutes 
more  went  by,  and  still  no  Duke  of  Wellington  ap 
peared  ;  critical  moments,  when  each  one  seemed  to 
count  two !  At  length,  in  one  of  the  rooms,  at  a  dis 
tance,  the  Duke  was  seen  coming.  He  was  dressed 
in  the  uniform  of  an  Austrian  Field  Marshal,  a  plain 
roundabout  jacket  of  white  cloth,  and  white  under 
dress  to  suit,  relieved  by  scarcely  any  thing  but  his 
sword.  His  dress  being  tight  and  simple,  gave  to 
his  person  a  thinner  look  than  usual ;  and  as  he  kept 
advancing  with  easy  step,  quite  alone,  and  a  general 
silence  prevailing,  the  King,  as  he  drew  near,  stepped 
forward  to  meet  him.  With  both  hands,  he  took 
the  Duke  by  both,  which  he  shook  with  great  cordi 
ality,  saying  something  which  the  company  could  not 
hear,  but  which,  from  the  manner,  we  took  to  be 
a  good  humored  rally  upon  his  late  arrival.  The 
Duke  received  it  with  placid  composure,  made  no 
reply,  but  bowed.  When  liberated  from  the  friendly 


1821.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  385 

grasp  of  the  King,  he  approached  a  circle  of  which 
I  happened  to  be  one.  One  of  the  ministers  com 
posing  it  said  to  him,  "  We  hope  you  will  forgive  our 
little  treason  my  Lord  Duke,  but  we  have  just  been 
determining  here,  that  as  some  one  of  the  company 
was  to  be  too  late,  best  to  have  fallen  to  your  Grace's 
lot,  who  can  so  well  bear  it !"  With  a  half  whisper, 
and  arch  smile,  the  Duke  replied,  "  The  King  knows 
•  I  would  have  been  here  sooner,  hit  for  attending  to 
some  of  His  Majesty's  business"  This,  the  Duke 
being  a  Cabinet  Minister,  had  doubtless  been  suf 
ficient  to  cover  his  delinquency,  and  secure  for 
him  the  very  cordial  and  kind  reception  all  had 
witnessed. 

Hardly  had  he  uttered  this  little  sentence,  when 
dinner  was  announced.  The  King  led  the  way;  the 
Royal  Dukes  followed ;  then  the  Special  Ambassa 
dors,  each  taking  precedence  by  the  date  of  his  arri 
val  in  London;  then  the  resident  Corps  and  rest  of 
the  company,  each  having  the  pas  under  rules  well 
known.  All  were  in  high  official  costume.  The 
King  took  the  middle  of  his  table;  the  Marquis  of 
Londonderry  one  end,  and  Count  Munster,  who,  as 
Hanoverian  Minister  had  a  sort  of  family  rank  at  the 
English  Court,  the  other  end.  In  all,  above  thirty 
sat  down  to  table.  The  King  gave  his  chief  atten 
tions  to  those  near  him,  who  were  the  special  Ambas 
sadors.  The  ornaments  down  the  middle  of  the 

33 


386  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [18*21. 

table,  and  profusion  of  lights,  intercepted  the  view  of 
the  guests  across  it.  I  was  next  to  Lord  London 
derry,  and  had  some  conversation  with  him.  It 
touched  upon  Russia  and  Turkey;  he  expressed  the 
hope  that  things  in  that  quarter  would  end  quietly, 
remarking  that  the  Emperor  was  moderate;  it 
touched  upon  English  society  also,  and  the  remark 
dropped  from  him  that  the  higher  the  rank  and  edu 
cation,  the  better  bred,  as  a  general  rule,  their  peo 
ple  in  England — so  he  believed  it  was  considered. 
Some  conversation  I  also  had  with  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  and  the  Duke  of  Montr ose,  on  American 
steamboats,  and  the  genius  of  Fulton.  The  former 
was  inclined  to  claim  Fulton  as  an  Englishman;  but 
I  said  that  we  could  not  surrender  the  honor  of  his 
birth  for  the  United  States. 

The  entire  dinner  service  was  of  gold.  Some 
thing  struck  me  among  the  smaller  pieces,  as  very 
appropriate  in  design — the  salt-cellars.  Each  repre 
sented  a  small  rock,  in  dead  gold,  on  which  reclined 
a  little  sea  nymph  holding  in  her  hand  a  shell,  which 
contained  the  salt.  One  of  these  was  before  every 
two  guests.  So  it  was,  as  to  number,  with  the  golden 
coolers  down  the  sides,  containing  wine.  The  ser 
vants  in  the  royal  livery  were  abundant,  and  their 
quiet  movements  seen  rather  than  heard.  The  whole 
table,  sideboard,  and  room,  had  an  air  of  chaste  and 
solid  grandeur;  not  however  interfering  with  the 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  387 

restrained  enjoyments  of  a  good  dinner,  of  which  the 
King  seemed  desirous  that  his  foreign  guests  should 
in  nowise  be  abridged,  for  we  sat  until  past  ten 
o'clock.  When  he  moved,  the  company  all  rose, 
and,  in  the  order  in  which  we  came  to  dinner,  re 
turned  to  the  drawing-rooms,  where  coffee  was  hand 
ed.  All  repaired  afterwards  to  a  ball  given  by  Prin 
cess  Esterhazy  in  honor  of  the  coronation,  the  King's 
carriage  going  first. 

July  27.  Dined  at  the  Duke  of  Wellington's. 
The  card  of  invitation  mentioned  that  it  was  to 
meet  the  King,  who  was  there  accordingly. 

We  had  all  the  Special  Ambassadors,  as  yester 
day,  at  the  King's;  most  of  the  resident  Ambassadors 
and  Ministers,  and  the  Dukes  of  York,  Clarence,  and 
Cambridge;  also  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  the  Duke 
of  Rutland,  the  Duke  of  Beaufort,  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
trose,  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  the  Earl  of  Liver 
pool,  (Premier,)  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland,  Lord 
Maryborough,  Lord  Melville,  and  Field  Marshal 
Lord  Beresford.  The  whole  company  were  in  full 
costume,  as  at  the  King's  table. 

I  sat  next  to  Lord  Melville,  and  had  Lord  Mary 
borough  on  the  other  side.  The  former  mentioned, 
that  the  British  Government  had  determined  to  pub 
lish  all  the  admiralty  charts.  The  latter  talked  of 
our  Navy,  of  the  equipments  and  discipline  of  which, 


388  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1821. 

I  found  that  he  was  not  unaware.  And  here  I  will 
take  this  incidental  occasion  to  say,  that,  whilst  the 
bulk  of  the  English  scarcely  know  that  an  English 
ship  was  ever  vanquished  by  an  American,  and 
whilst  English  authors  have  striven  to  prove,  by 
arithmetic,  how  every  battle  between  English  and 
American  ships  attested  superior  merit  in  the  Eng 
lish,  I  never  heard  an  enlightened  English  gentle 
man,  and  least  of  all  those  of  the  higher  classes, 
speak  on  the  subject,  (one  which  I  never  intro 
duced,)  who  did  not  pay  tributes  to  the  skill  and 
valor  with  which  our  ships  were  fought,  and  admit 
that  theirs  had  been  overcome  with  a  rapidity  and 
completeness,  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  excess  of 
force  on  our  side,  when  excess  existed ;  but  they  com 
monly  added,  that  the  size,  discipline  and  equipment 
of  our  ships  had  taken  them  by  surprise,  which  they 
said  would  not  be  likely  to  occur  again.  "A  Roman 
myself,  I  am  overcome  by  a  Roman." 

I  return  to  the  dinner.  The  table  service  was 
brilliant.  It  lighted  up  better  than  the  King's;  for, 
being  entirely  of  silver,  and  very  profuse,  the  whole 
aspect  was  of  pure,  glittering  white;  unlike  the 
slightly  shaded  tinges  which  candles  seem  to  cast 
from  gold  plate.  When  the  desert  came,  there  were 
different  sets  of  beautiful  china,  one  a  present  to  the 
Duke  from  the  King  of  France,  the  other  from  the 
Emperor  of  Austria. 


1821.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  389 

The  King  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Duke. 
Just  before  the  desert  courses,  the  Duke  gave  His 
Majesty  as  a  toast.  The  guests  all  rose,  and  drank 
it  in  silence,  the  King  also  rising  and  bowing  to  the 
company.  A  few  minutes  after,  the  King  gave  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  introducing  his  to$st  with  a 
few  remarks.  The  purport  of  them  \vas,  that,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  exertions  of  his  friend  upon  his 
left,  it  was  so  that  he  spoke  of  the  Duke,  he,  the 
King,  might  not  have  had  the  happiness  of  meeting 
those  whom  he  now  saw  around  him  at  that  table ; 
it  was,  therefore,  with  particular  pleasure,  that  he 
proposed  his  health.  The  King  spoke  his  words 
with  emphasis,  and  great  apparent  pleasure.  The 
Duke  made  no  reply,  but  took  in  respectful  silence 
what  was  said.  The  King"  continued  sitting  whilst 

o  O 

he  spoke,  as  did  the  company,  in  profound  stillness 
under  his  words. 

I  thought  of  Johnson,  when  George  III.  compli 
mented  him.  The  innate  dignity  of  great  minds  is 
the  same.  In  Johnson,  it  was  that  of  the  rough  vir 
tuous,  recluse — whose  greatness  was  that  of  the 
author.  In  Wellington,  it  was  externally  moulded 
into  the  ease  which  armies,  and  courts,  and  long 
association  with  the  elite  of  mankind,  may  be  sup 
posed  to  give.  Johnson  did  not  "bandy  civilities" 
with  his  Sovereign,  whom  he  had  never  seen  before; 
nor  did  Wellington,  who  saw  him  every  day. 

33* 


390  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1821. 

The  dinner  over,  coffee  was  served  in  the  drawing 
rooms.  At  about  eleven  o'clock,  the  King,  the  Duke, 
and  all  the  company,  went  to  a  ball  at  Almack's 
given  in  honor  of  the  coronation,  by  the  Special 
Ambassador  from  France — the  Duke  de  Grammont; 
and  whatever  French  taste,  directed  by  a  Grammont, 
could  do  to  render  the  night  agreeable,  was  witnessed. 
His  suite  of  young  gentlemen  from  Paris,  stood  ready 
to  receive  the  British  fair  on  their  first  approach  to 
the  rooms,  and  from  baskets  of  flowers  presented 
them  with  rich  bouquets.  Each  lady  thus  entered 
the  ball  room  with  one  in  her  hand ;  and  a  thousand 
bouquets  displayed  their  hues  and  exhaled  their 
sweets,  as  the  dancing  commenced. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  391 


CHAPTER  XX. 

DEATH  OF  THE  MARQUIS  OF  LONDONDERRY.  THE 
FOREIGN  AMBASSADORS  AND  MINISTERS  ATTEND 
HIS  FUNERAL.  MR.  CANNING  BECOMES  FOREIGN 
SECRETARY  OF  ENGLAND.  INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  OPEN 
ING  AN  EXTENSIVE  NEGOTIATION  WITH  ENGLAND. 
INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.  CANNING  ON  THAT  SUBJECT. 
CONVERSATION  WITH  HIM  ON  THE  PLANS  OF  FRANCE 
AND  THE  EUROPEAN  ALLIANCE,  RESPECTING  SPAN 
ISH  AMERICA.  RELATIONSHIP  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  TO  THIS  SUBJECT.  DINNER  AT  MR.  PLAN- 
TA'S — THE  GAME  OF  TWENTY  QUESTIONS. 

July,  1823.  ;  .-,The  last  preceding  memorandum  in 
this  irregular  narrative  of  a  public  mission,  was  in 
July,  1821.  I  cannot  resume  its  thread,  here  broken 
by  a  chasm  of  two  years,  without  alluding  to  the 
death  of  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  which  hap 
pened  in  August  1822.  He  died  by  his  own  hand 
at  North  Cray,  his  country  home,  in  Kent.  The 
event  proceeded  from  temporary  aberration  of  mind, 
caused  in  all  probability  by  his  laborious  exertions 
as  ministerial  leader  in  the  House  of  Commons 


392  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

during  the  session  of  Parliament  which  had  just 
closed,  added  to  toils  and  solicitudes  of  scarcely  in 
ferior  burden  upon  him,  as  first  Minister  of  the 
Crown  for  Foreign  Affairs.  His  death  created  a 
great  shock.  As  a  statesman  moving  largely  in 
English  and  European  affairs  during  the  momen 
tous  transactions  which  preceded  and  followed  the 
overthrow  of  Napoleon,  and  influencing  decidedly 
some  of  them,  history  has  already  passed  upon  his 
character ;  and  it  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  in  these 
humble  and  fugitive  pages,  to  discuss  it  in  those 
relations.  But  as  regards  that  portion  of  English 
statesmanship  which  has  to  deal  with  American 
affairs,  and  it  is  no  unimportant  portion,  I  must 
appeal  to  the  preceding  pages  to  attest  the  candid 
and  liberal  spirit  in  which  he  was  ever  disposed  to 
view  them.  Let  those  who  would  doubt  it,  consult 
the  archives  of  the  two  nations  since  the  end  of  our 
revolutionary  war  and  point  out  the  British  states 
man  of  any  class  or  party  who,  up  to  the  period  of 
his  death,  made  more  advances,  or  did  more  in  fact, 
towards  placing  their  relations  upon  an  amicable  foot 
ing.  I  even  hazarded  the  opinion  in  Chapter  XX.  of 
the  former  volume  of  this  work,  that  had  he  not  left 
England  to  attend  the  Congress  at  Aix  la  Chapelle 
in  1818,  he  would  have  settled  with  the  United 
States,  in  the  negotiation  then  pending,  the  question 
of  impressment;  and,  as  an  opinion,  I  still  hold  it 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  393 

on  grounds  then  intimated.  His  sentiments  were 
all  of  a  lofty  kind.  His  private  life  was  pure,  and 
all  wrho  knew  him  in  those  relations  loved  him.  Ii* 
society,  he  was  attractive  in  the  highest  degree ;  the 
firmness  and  courage  of  his  nature,  being  not  more 
remarkable  than  the  gentleness  and  suavity  of  his 
manners.  He  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
between  the  graves  of  Pitt  and  Fox.  The  Diplo 
matic  Corps  all  went  to  his  funeral ;  and  not  one 
among  them  could  gaze  upon  his  pall,  without 
having  his  memory  filled  with  recollections  of  kind 
nesses  received  from  him.  If  any  thing  intrinsically 
unpleasant  ever  arose  in  the  transaction  of  interna 
tional  business  with  them,  he  threw  around  it  every 
mitigation  which  blandness  of  manner  could  impart; 
whilst  to  announce  or  promote  what  was  agreeable, 
seemed  always  to  give  him  pleasure.  His  personal 
attentions  to  them,  were  shown  in  ways  which  seemed 
to  put  out  of  view  their  coming  from  an  official 
source,  so  unconstrained  and  friendly  did  they  ever 
appear.  Might  not  each  individual  of  the  large  assem 
blage  of  Ambassadors  and  Ministers  who  were  of  the 
funeral  train,  naturally  have  felt  grief  at  the  death 
of  such  a  Foreign  Secretary?  struck  down,  as  he 
also  was,  by  so  melancholy  a  fate,  in  the  midst  of 
his  high,  employments,  and  with  apparently  so  strong 
a  hold  upon  life  and  its  honors?  Nor  did  I  ever  see 
manly  sorrow  more  written  upon  any  countenance 


394  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

than  that  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  as  he  took 
a  last  look  at  the  coffin  when  lowered  into  the 
vault, 

Upon  the  death  of  Lord  Londonderry,  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  Eng 
land  passed  to  the  hands  of  Mr.  Canning — a  name 
also  known  to  fame — a  statesman  and  an  orator; 
filling  each  sphere  with  powers  highly  disciplined, 
whether  their  exercise  was  felt  on  great  occa 
sions,  or  only  dazzled  on  lighter  ones.  He  was 
equally  the  ornament  of  private  life,  in  a  society 
refined  by  age,  by  education,  and  by  wealth ;  ascend 
ant  in  the  highest  literary  circles,  and  adding  dignity 
to  those  of  rank.  His  rural  residence  was  at  Glou 
cester  Lodge ;  and  his  classic  dinners  at  that  abode, 
as  the  hospitalities  of  Lord  Londonderry  at  North 
Cray  and  St.  James's  Square,  will  long  be  remem 
bered  by  the  Diplomatic  Corps  at  the  English  Court 
in  the  time  of  George  IV.  as  reliefs  along  the  often 
anxious  path  of  international  business.  He  too,  soon 
passed  away.  Raised  by  his  genius  to  the  Premier 
ship,  the  proud  dream,  it  may  be,  of  his  life,  he  died 
almost  immediately  after  ascending  to  that  pinnacle ; 
the  victim,  in  his  turn,  of  official  labours  too  intense 
when  superadded  to  those  of  that  stormy  ocean 
where  his  sway  was  great — the  House  of  Com 
mons.  Britain  entombed  him  also,  side  by  side 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  395 

with  those  of  her  distinguished   men  whose  lives 
were  devoted  to  her  service  and  renown. 

During  the  interval  of  two  years  and  more  which 
I  have  passed  over,  having  omitted  almost  entirely 
also  the  first  six  months  of  1821,  much  of  public 
business  passed  through  my  hands  and  had  its  com 
pletion.  It  was  much  intermingled,  as  always,  with 
social  scenes,  some  of  which  might  bear  to  be  re 
counted,  for  I  believe  that  every  American  Minister 
in  England,  is  apt  to  find  the  circle  of  English  hos 
pitality  increase  around  him  the  longer  he  stays; 
but  only  small  portions  of  it,  past  or  to  come,  in 
my  case,  can  be  told.  I  am  about  to  enter  upon 
some  account  of  further  negotiations  which  I  con 
ducted  with  the  British  Government  on  subjects, 
some  of  which  still  remain  unsettled,  and  have  a  deep 
present  interest.  It  has  been  for  the  purpose  of 
reaching  the  point  of  time  when  I  was  first  instructed 
to  open  these  negotiations,  as  well  as  to  speak  of 
other  international  things  passing  between  the 
Foreign  Secretary  of  England  and  myself,  in  con 
nexion  with  them,  that  I  have  passed  over  the  inter 
vals  mentioned ;  lest  I  should  extend  to  undue  limits 
a  work  which  may  already  be  too  long  for  the  read 
er's  patience.  Mr.  Canning  continued  at  the  head 
of  Foreign  Affairs  during  the  full  remaining  term  of 
my  mission. 


396  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

July  29.  To-day  I  received  from  Mr.  Adams, 
Secretary  of  State,  five  dispatches,  numbered  from 
64  to  68 ;  each  on  a  subject  in  regard  to  which  I  am 
directed  to  open  a  negotiation  with  this  Government. 

The  first  bears  date  the  23d  of  June,  1823,  and 
relates  to  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the 
United  States  and  all  the  British  colonies  in  Ameri 
ca;  England  having  opened  her  West  India  trade  to 
us  by  act  of  Parliament  last  year,  though  in  a  man 
ner  which  has  not  proved  satisfactory  in  its  practical 
effects. 

The  second  is  dated  on  the  24th  of  June,  and 
relates  to  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade. 

The  third,  on  the  25th  of  June,  and  relates  to  the 
unsettled  boundary  line  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  as  mentioned  in  the  fifth  article 
of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent. 

The  fourth,  on  the  26th  of  June,  and  relates  to  the 
admission  of  consuls  of  the  United  States  in  the 
colonial  ports  of  Great  Britain. 

The  fifth,  on  the  27th  of  June,  and  relates  to  the 
fishery  on  the  Western  coast  of  Newfoundland. 

Instructons  are  given  to  me  under  each  of  the 
foregoing  heads,  with  Mr.  Adams's  accustomed 
ability.  Documents  of  various  kinds  are  added; 
and  the  first  dispatch,  No.  64,  enclosed  a  full  power 
to  me  from  the  President  to  conclude  and  sign  on  be 
half  of  the  United  States,  any  treaty  or  treaties,  con- 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  397 

vention  or  conventions,  to  which,  the  negotiation  or 
negotiations  might  give  rise. 

A  sixth~dispatch,  numbered  69,  came  at  the  same 
time,  dated  on  the  same  day  with  the  fifth,  which 
exhibits  under  one  view  all  the  foregoing  subjects, 
and  informs  me  that  I  am  yet  to  receive  instructions 
on  two  other  subjects,  to  be  included  in  the  full 
negotiation  contemplated;  viz.  on  the  Russian  Ukase 
of  September  1821,  relating  to  the  North  West  Coast 
of  America,  and  on  the  debateable  points  of  maritime 
law. 

August  1.  I  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  all  the 
foregoing  instructions  and  documents,  and  say  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  that  whilst  I  am  sensible  to  the 
confidence  which  the  being  charged  with  the  discus 
sion  and  settlement  of  so  many  and  such  important 
subjects,  manifests  in  me,  I  feel  the  heavy  responsi 
bility  which  it  creates. 

August  16.  On  the  fourth  instant  I  addressed  a 
note  to  Mr.  Canning  asking  an  interview  on  the 
subject  of  the  negotiations  to  be  proposed  to  His 
Majesty's  Government,  and  he  appointed  Monday, 
the  eleventh,  to  receive  me.  When  that  arrived,  I 
had  not  been  able,  through  various  interruptions,  to 
give  to  the  whole  of  my  instructions,  the  careful  con 
sideration  necessary  to  make  me  ready  in  conversa- 

34 


398  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1823. 

tion  on  whatever  points  might  happen  to  be  touched 
even  on  first  broaching  the  subjects  to  Mr.  Canning. 
I  therefore  asked  a  postponement  of  the  interview, 
and  it  accordingly  went  off  until  to-day,  when  it  was 
held  at  the  Foreign  Office. 

I  proceeded  to  mention  to  him  the  various  subjects 
in  their  order,  and  further  told  him  that  I  was  in 
expectation  of  receiving  at  an  early  day  instructions 
upon  two  other  subjects :  that  of  the  Russian  Ukase, 
relative  to  the  North  West  Coast  of  America,  and 
also  on  certain  points  of  maritime  law,  w^hich  it  was 
deemed  desirable  for  the  two  nations  to  discuss  and 
settle  at  the  same  time  with  all  the  other  questions. 

Of  the  five  subjects  which  I  first  enumerated,  that 
of  the  boundary  line  under  the  fifth  article  of  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  and  that  of  the  Newfoundland 
Fishery,  were  those  only  upon  which  we  entered 
into  any  conversation.  He  spoke  of  them  as  those 
with  which  he  had  been  least  familiar  hitherto,  and 
asked  an  outline  of  them  from  me,  which  I  gave 
him ;  and  in  the  end  I  informed  him,  that  I  would 
get  ready  on  my  part  to  go  into  all  or  any  of  the 
subjects  whenever  it  would  suit  the  convenience  of 
His  Majesty's  Government  to  enter  upon  them,  if 
deciding  to  entertain  the  negotiation  as  proposed. 

He  replied,  that  the  number  and  importance  of 
the  subjects,  added  to  the  novelty  of  some  of  them 
to  him  at  first  blush,  would  render  some  interval 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  399 

necessary  before  the  time  and  manner  of  taking 
them  all  up,  could  be  determined  upon ;  but  that  I 
should  hear  from  him  again  as  soon  as  he  was  able 
to  give  due  reflection  to  the  whole  matter  of  my 
communication.  He  mentioned  also  that  he  was 
thinking  of  a  short  excursion  into  the  country  in  a 
few  days,  and  perhaps  another  in  September,  as  his 
share  of  relaxation  for  the  season,  after  his  late 
parliamentary  and  other  fatigues.  I  put  into  his 
hands  an  informal  memorandum  of  the  different 
subjects,  and  reported  to  my  Government  what  pass 
ed  at  this  first  interview. 

The  proper  object  of  it  over,  I  transiently  asked 
him  whether,  notwithstanding  the  late  news  from 
Spain,  we  might  not  still  hope  that  the  Spaniards 
would  get  the  better  of  their  difficulties.  I  here 
had  allusion  to  the  defection  of  Ballosteros  in  Anda 
lusia,  an  event  seeming  to  threaten  with  new  dan 
gers  the  constitutional  cause  in  Spain.  His  reply 
was  general,  importing  nothing  more  than  his  opin 
ion  of  the  increased  dangers  with  which,  undoubted 
ly,  the  event  I  alluded  to,  was  calculated  to  surround 
the  Spanish  cause.  Pursuing  the  topic  I  said,  that  ' 
should  France  ultimately  effect  her  purpose  of  over 
throwing  the  constitutional  government  in  Spain, 
there  was  at  least  the  consolation  left,  that  Great 
Britain  would  not  allow  her  to  go  further  and  stop 
the  progress  of  emancipation  in  the  colonies.  By 


400  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

this  remark  I  meant  to  recall  the  sentiments  pro 
mulgated  in  Mr.  Canning's  note  to  the  British  Am 
bassador  at  Paris  of  the  31st  of  March;  a  note 
which  had  immediately  preceded  the  invasion  of 
Spain  by  the  French  army  under  the  Duke  D'  An- 
gouleme.  The  purport  of  this  note  was,  that  Eng 
land  considered  the  course  of  events  as  having  sub 
stantially  decided  the  question  of  the  separation  of 
the  colonies  from  Spain,  although  the  formal  recog 
nition  of  their  Independence  by  His  Majesty's  Gov 
ernment  might  be  hastened  or  retarded  by  external 
causes,  as  well  as  by  the  internal  condition  of  the 
colonies  themselves;  and  that  as  England  disclaimed 
all  intention  of  appropriating  to  herself  the  smallest 
portion  of  the  late  Spanish  possessions  in  America, 
she  also  felt  satisfied  that  no  attempt  would  be  made 
by  France  to  bring  any  of  them  under  her  domin 
ion,  either  by  conquest  or  by  cession  from  Spain.  I 
considered  this  note  as  sufficiently  distinct  in  its 
import,  that  England  would  not  remain  passive 
under  any  such  attempt  by  France;  and  on  my 
expressing  this  sentiment,  Mr.  Canning  asked  me 
what  I  thought  my  Government  would  say  to  going 
hand  in  hand  with  England  in  such  a  policy  ?  He 
did  not  think  that  concert  of  action  would  become 
necessary,  fully  believing  that  the  simple  fact  of  our 
two  countries  being  known  to  hold  the  same  opin 
ions,  would,  by  its  moral  effect,  put  down-  the  inten- 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  401 

tion  on  the  part  of  France,  if  she  entertained  it. 
This  belief  was  founded,  he  said,  upon  the  large 
share  of  the  maritime  power  of  the  world  which 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  held,  and  the 
consequent  influence  which  the  knowledge  of  their 
common  policy,  on  a  question  involving  such  impor 
tant  maritime  interests,  present  and  future,  could  not 
fail  to  produce  every  where. 

I  replied,  that  in  what  manner  my  Government 
would  look  upon  such  a  suggestion,  I  was  una- 
hle  to  say;  it  was  one  surrounded  by  important 
considerations,  and  I  would  communicate  it  to  my 
Government  in  the  same  informal  manner  in  which 
he  had  thrown  it  before  me.  I  remarked  however, 
that  I  could  hardly  do  this  to  full  advantage  unless 
he  would  at  the  same  time  enlighten  me  as  to  the 
precise  situation  in  which  England  stood  in  relation 
to  those  new  communities,  and  especially  on  the 
material  point  of  acknowledging  their  independence. 

He  replied  that  Great  Britain  certainly  never 
again  intended  to  lend  her  instrumentality  or  aid, 
whether  by  mediation  or  otherwise,  towards  making 
up  the  dispute  between  Spain  and  her  colonies ;  but 
that,  if  this  result  could  still  be  brought  about,  she 
would  not  interfere  to  prevent  it.  Upon  my  here 
intimating  that  I  had  supposed  all  idea  of  Spain 
ever  recovering  her  authority  over  the  colonies,  had 
gone  by,  4ie  explained  by  saying  that  he  did  not 

34* 


402  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

mean  to  controvert  that  opinion,  for  he  too  believed 
that  the  day  had  arrived,  when  all  America  might 
be  considered  as  lost  to  Europe,  so  far  as  the  tie  of 
political  dependence  was  concerned;  all  that  he 
meant  was,  that  if  Spain  and  the  colonies  should  be 
able,  agreeing  among  themselves,  to  bring  the  dis 
pute,  which  was  not  yet  quite  over,  to  a  close  upon 
terms  satisfactory  to  both  sides,  and  which  would  at 
the  same  time  secure  to  Spain,  as  the  parent  state, 
commercial  advantages  not  extended  to  other  na 
tions,  that  Great  Britain  would  not  object  to  a  com 
promise  in  this  spirit  of  preference  to  Spain.  Upon 
my  again  alluding  to  the  extreme  improbability  of 
the  dispute  ever  settling  down  at  this  late  day  on 
such  a  basis,  he  said  that  it  was  not  his  intention  to 
gainsay  that  opinion,  having  expressed  himself  as 
above,  rather  for  the  purpose  of  indicating  the  feel 
ing  which  this  Cabinet  still  had  towards  Spain,  than 
of  predicting  results. 

Wishing  to  be  still  more  specifically  enlightened, 
I  asked  if  England  was,  at  the  present  time,  taking 
any  steps,  or  contemplating  any,  which  had  refer 
ence  to  the  recognition  of  these  new  communities, 
that  being  the  point  on  which  the  United  States 
would  naturally  feel  most  interest. 

He  replied,  that  she  had  taken  none  whatever,  as 
yet,  but  was  on  the  eve  of  taking  one  of  a  prepara 
tory  nature,  which  however  wrould  still  leave  her  at 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  403 

large  to  recognize  or  not,  according  to  the  position  of 
events  at  a  future  period.  The  measure  contem 
plated  was,  to  send  out  one  or  more  individuals 
under  authority  from  this  Government,  not  regularly 
diplomatic,  but  clothed  with  powers  in  the  nature  of 
a  commission  of  inquiry,  which  he  described  as 
analogous  to  those  exercised  by  our  commissioners 
sent  out  to  South  America  in  1817,  in  the  persons  of 
Mr.  Rodney,  Mr.  Graham,  and  Mr.  Bland  ;  and  that 
upon  the  result  of  this  commission,  much  might  de 
pend  as  to  the  subsequent  course  of  England.  I 
asked  whether  it  would  comprehend  all  the  new 
communities ;  to  which  he  replied  that  it  would  be 
confined  for  the  present  to  Mexico. 

Reverting  to  his  first  idea,  he  again  said,  that  he 
hoped  France  would  not,  even  should  events  be 
favorable  to  her  arms  in  the  Peninsula,  extend  her 
views  to  Spanish  America  for  the  purpose  of  re 
ducing  the  colonies,  nominally  indeed  for  Spain, 
but  in  reality  to  subserve  ends  of  her  own ;  but  that 
if  unhappily  she  did  meditate  such  a  course,  he  was 
satisfied  that  the  knowledge  that  the  United  States 
would  be  opposed  to  it  as  well  as  England,  could  not 
fail  to  have  its  decisive  influence  in  checking  it.  In 
this  way  good  might  be  done,  and  peaceful  prospects 
made  more  sure  all  round.  As  to  the  form  in  which 
such  knowledge  might  be  made  to  reach  France  and 
the  other  powers  of  Europe,  he  said  in  conclusion 


404  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

that  he  thought  it  might  probably  be  arranged  in  a 
manner  that  would  be  free  from  objection. 

I  again  told  him  that  I  would  not  fail  to  convey 
his  suggestions  to  my  Government  and  impart  to 
him  whatever  answer  I  might  receive.  In  the  course 
of  our  conversation,  I  expressed  no  opinion  in  favor 
of  them,  yet  abstained  as  carefully  from  saying  any 
thing  against  them,  and  on  this  footing  the  conver 
sation  ended;  all  which  was  promptly  reported  to 
my  Government. 

July  20.  On  the  death  of  Lord  Londonderry,  Mr. 
Planta,  who  had  long  enjoyed  his  confidence  and 
esteem,  continued  his  connexion  with  the  Foreign 
Office,  as  one  of  the  Under  Secretaries  of  State; 
Mr.  Hamilton,  afterwards  British  Minister  at  Naples ; 
Lord  Clanwilliam,  afterwards  Minister  at  Berlin,  and 
Lord  Francis  Conyngham,  having  successively  acted 
with  him  as  co-associates  in  that  sphere.  Under  the 
present  date,  I  go  back  a  few  days  in  the  month  in 
which  I  recommence  my  too  often  disjointed  narra 
tive,  for  the  sake  of  speaking  of  a  dinner  at  Mr. 
Planta's,  recollected  with  pleasure,  probably  by 
others  as  well  as  myself.  It  was  in  dining  with 
him  to-day  (July  20,  1823)  that  we  had  Count 
Lieven,  the  Russian  Ambassador ;  Count  Martin 
D' Agile,  the  Sardinian  Envoy;  Mr.  Canning,  the 
Foreign  Secretary;  Mr.  Huskisson,  President  of  the 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  405 

Board  of  Trade;  Mr.  Robinson,  Chancellor  of  the  Ex 
chequer;*  Lord  Granville,  Lord  George  Bentinck, 
Lord  Francis  Conyngham,  Mr.  Charles  Ellis,  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  Lord  Howard  de  Walden. 

It  would  not  have  been  easy  to  assemble  a  com 
pany  better  fitted  to  make  a  dinner  party  agreeable, 
or  to  have  brought  them  together  at  a  better  moment. 
Parliament  having  just  risen,  Mr.  Canning  and  his 
two  colleagues  of  the  cabinet.  Mr.  Huskisson  and 

o  / 

Mr.  Robinson,  seemed  like  birds  let  out  of  a  cage. 
There  was  much  small  talk,  some  of  it  very  sprightly. 
Ten  o'clock  arriving  with  little  disposition  to  rise 
from  table,  Mr.  Canning  proposed  that  we  should 
play  "  Twenty  Questions."  This  was  new  to  me, 
and  the  other  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps  pre 
sent,  though  we  had  all  been  a  good  while  in  Eng 
land.  The  game  consisted  in  endeavors  to  find  out 
your  thoughts  by  asking  twenty  questions.  The 
questions  were  to  be  put  plainly,  though  in  the 
alternative  if  desired ;  the  answers  to  be  also  plain 
and  direct;  the  object  of  your  thoughts,  not  to  be 
an  abstract  idea,  or  any  thing  so  occult,  or  scientific, 
or  technical,  as  not  to  be  supposed  to  enter  into  the 
knowledge  of  the  company,  but  something  well 
known  to  the  present  day,  or  to  general  history  and 
literature ;  it  might  be  any  name  of  renown,  ancient 
or  modern,  man  or  woman ;  or  any  work  or  memo- 

*  The  present  Earl  of  Ripon. 


406  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

rial  of  art  well  known ;  but  not  a  mere  event,  as  a 
battle  for  instance.  These  were  mentioned  as  among 
the  general  rules  of  the  game,  serving  to  denote  its 
character.  It  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Canning,  assisted 
by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  who  sat  next 
to  him,  should  put  the  questions ;  and  that  I,  assisted 
by  Lord  Granville,  who  sat  next  to  me,  should  give 
the  answers.  Lord  Granville  and  myself  were  con 
sequently  to  have  the  thought,  or  secret,  in  common; 
and  it  was  well  understood,  that  the  discovery  of  it, 
if  made,  was  to  be  the  fair  result  of  mental  inference 
from  the  questions  and  answers,  not  of  signs  passing, 
or  hocus  pocus  of  any  description.  With  these  as 
the  preliminaries,  and  the  parties  sitting  face  to  face 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  table,  we  began  the  battle. 

First  question  by  Mr.  Canning.  Does  what  you 
have  thought  of  belong  to  the  animal  or  vegetable 
kingdom?  Answer- — To  the  vegetable. 

Second  question.  Is  it  manufactured,  or  unmanu 
factured  ?  Manufactured. 

Third.  Is  it  a  solid  or  a  liquid?  A  solid.  (How 
could  it  be  a  liquid,  said  one  of  the  company  slyly, 
unless  vegetable  soup ! ) 

Fourth.  Is  it  a  thing  entire  in  itself,  or  in  parts? 
Entire. 

Fifth.     Is  it  for  private  use,  or  public  ?    Public. 

Sixth.  Does  it  exist  in  England,  or  out  of  it?  In 
England. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  407 

Seventh.  Is  it  single,  or  are  there  others  of  the 
same  kind  ?  Single. 

Eighth.  Is  it  historical,  or  only  existent  at  pre 
sent?  Both. 

Ninth.     For  ornament  or  use  ?     Both. 

Tenth.  Has  it  any  connexion  with  the  person  of 
the  King?  No. 

Eleventh.  Is  it  carried,  or  does  it  support  itself? 
The  former. 

Twelfth.  Does  it  pass  by  succession?  [Neither 
Lord  Grenville  nor  myself  being  quite  certain  on 
this  point,  the  question  was  not  answered;  but  as  it 
w^as  thought  that  the  very  hesitation  to  answer  might 
serve  to  shed  light  upon  the  secret,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  question  should  be  counted  as  one,  in  the 
progress  of  the  game.] 

Thirteenth.    Was  it  used  at  the  coronation  ?   Yes. 

Fourteenth.  In  the  Hall  or  Abbey?  Probably  in 
both ;  certainly  in  the  Hall. 

Fifteenth.  Does  it  belong  specially  to  the  cere 
mony  of  the  coronation,  or  is  it  used  at  other  times  ? 
It  is  used  at  other  times. 

Sixteenth.  Is  it  exclusively  of  a  vegetable  nature, 
or  is  it  not  in  some  parts  a  compound  of  a  vegetable 
and  a  mineral  ?  Exclusively  of  a  vegetable  nature. 

Seventeenth.  What  is  its  shape?  This  question 
was  objected  to,  as  too  particular;  and  the  company 
inclining  to  think  so,  it  was  withdrawn;  but  Mr. 


408  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

Canning  saying  that  it  would  be  hard  upon  him  to 
let  it  be  counted,  as  it  had  been  withdrawn,  the 
decision  was  in  his  favor  on  that  point,  and  it  was 
not  counted. 

Seventeenth,  repeated.  Is  it  decorated  or  simple? 
We  made  a  stand  against  this  question  also,  as  too 
particular  ;  but  the  company  not  inclining  to  sustain 
us  this  time,  I  had  to  answer  it,  and  said  that  it  was 
simple. 

Eighteenth ..  Is  it  used  in  the  ordinary  ceremonial 
of  the  House  of  Commons  or  House  of  Lords  ?  No. 

Nineteenth.  Is  it  ever  used  by  either  House? 
No. 

Twentieth.  Is  it  generally  stationary  or  move- 
able  ?  Moveable. 

The  whole  number  of  questions  being  now  ex 
hausted,  there  was  a  dead  pause.  The  interest  had 
gone  on  increasing  as  the  game  advanced,  until, 
coming  to  the  last  question,  it  grew  to  be  like  neck 
and  neck  at  the  close  of  a  race.  Mr.  Canning  was 
evidently  under  concern  lest  he  should  be  foiled,  as 
by  the  law  of  the  game  he  would  have  been,  if  he 
had  not  now  solved  the  enigma.  He  sat  silent  for  a 
minute  or  two ;  then,  rolling  his  rich  eye  about,  and 
with  a  countenance  a  little  anxious,  and  in  an  accent 
by  no  means  over  confident,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  think 
it  must  be  the  wand  of  the  Lord  High  Steward!'7 
And  it  was— EVEN  SO. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  409 

This  wand  is  a  long,  plain,  white  staff,  not  much 
thicker  than  your  middle  finger,  and,  as  such,  justi 
fies  all  the  answers  given. 

In  answering  the  ninth  question,  Lord  Granville 
and  I,  who  conferred  together  in  a  whisper  as  to  all 
answers  not  at  once  obvious,  remembered  that  some 
quaint  old  English  writers  say  that  the  Lord  High 
Steward  carried  his  staff  to  beat  off  intruders  from 
His  Majesty's  treasury !  When  at  the  twelfth,  Mr. 
Canning  illustrated  the  nature  of  his  question  by 
referring  to  the  rod  of  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  which 
he  said  did  not  pass  by  succession,  each  new  incum 
bent  procuring,  as  he  supposed,  a  new  one  for  him 
self.  I  said  that  it  was  not  the  Lord  Chamberlain's 
rod ;  but  the  very  mention  of  this  was  "  burning"  as 
children  say  when  they  play  hide-and-seek ;  and  in 
answering  that  it  was  not,  I  had  to  take  care  of  my 
emphasis. 

The  questions  were  not  put  in  the  rapid  manner 
in  which  they  will  be  read,  but  sometimes  after  con 
siderable  intervals,  not  of  silence — for  they  were 
enlivened  by  occasional  remarks  thrown  in  by  the 
company,  all  of  whom  grew  intent  upon  the  pastime 
as  it  advanced,  though  Mr.  Canning  alone  put  the 
questions,  and  I  alone  gave  out  the  answers.  It 
lasted  upwards  of  an  hour,  the  wine  ceasing  to  go 
round.  On  Mr.  Canning's  success,  for  it  was  touch 
and  go  with  him,  there  was  a  burst  of  approbation, 

35 


410  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

we  of  the  diplomatic  corps  saying  that  we  must  be 
very  careful  not  to  let  him  ask  us  too  many  ques 
tions  at  the  Foreign  Office,  lest  he  should  find  out 
every  secret  that  we  had ! 

The  number  of  the  questions  and  latitude  allowed 
in  putting  them,  added  to  the  restrictions  imposed 
upon  the  selection  of  the  secret,  leave  to  the  person 
putting  them,  a  less  difficult  task  than  might  at  first 
be  imagined;  and  accordingly  such  of  the  company 
as  had  witnessed  the  pastime  before,  said  that  the 
discovery  generally  took  place  by  the  time  the  ques 
tions  were  half  gone  through — sometimes  sooner; 
and  that  they  had  never  known  it  protracted  to  the 
twentieth  until  this  occasion.  It  is  obvious  that 
each  successive  question  with  its  answer,  goes  on 
narrowing  the  ground  of  defence,  until  at  last  the 
assailant  drives  his  antagonist  into  a  corner,  almost 
forcing  a  surrender  of  the  secret.  Nevertheless,  this 
presupposes  skill  in  putting  the  questions,  and  he 
who  consents  to  take  that  part  in  the  game,  must 
know  what  he  can  do.  It  was  not  until  twelve 
o'clock  that  we  all  rose  from  table,  and  went  up 
stairs  to  coffee.  So  it  is  that  these  Ministers  of  State 
relax ;  and  it  was  a  spectacle  not  without  interest  to 
see  such  men  as  Canning,  Huskisson,  and  Robinson 
giving  themselves  up  to  this  kind  of  recreation,  as  a 
contrast — in  the  first,  to  his  anxious  labors  in  the 
whole  field  of  Foreign  Affairs ;  in  the  second,  to  his 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  411 

speeches  on  the  sugar  question,  the  warehousing 
system,  and  on  alterations  in  the  tariff;  and  in 
the  third,  to  his  endless  mass  of  financial  matters, 
during  a  long  and  toilsome  session  of  Parliament  just 
ended.  * 

Dining  at  the  Marquis  of  Stafford's,  at  a  subse 
quent  day,  this  pastime  was  spoken  of;  and  it  was 
mentioned  that  Mr.  Pitt  and  Mr.  Wind  ham,  were 
both  fond  of  it.  Lord  Stafford  said  that  the  former 
had  once  succeeded  in  it,  when  the  secret  was  the 
stone  upon  which  Wai  worth,  Lord  Mayor  of  London 
stood  when  he  struck  down  Wat  Tyler  in  Richard 
the  Second's  time ;  and  his  impression  was  that  Mr. 
Pitt  had  triumphed  at  an  early  stage  of  his  ques 
tions. 

*  An  account  of  this  game  appeared  in  print  in  1840. 


412  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

COMMUNICATIONS  FROM  MR.  CANNING  ON  THE  AFFAIRS 
OF  SPANISH  AMERICA,  AND  STEPS  TAKEN  UNDER 
THEM.  FURTHER  INSTRUCTIONS  ON  THE  PROPOSED 
NEGOTIATION.  FURTHER  COMMUNICATION  FROM  MR. 
CANNING  ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  SPANISH  AMERICA. 

August  22.  This  day  brought  me  an  important 
note  from  Mr.  Canning,  dated  the  twentieth  instant 
— Foreign  Office.  He  informs  me  that  before  leav 
ing  town,  he  is  desirous  of  bringing  before  me  in  a 
more  distinct,  but  still  in  an  unofficial  and  confiden 
tial  shape,  the  question  opened  and  shortly  discussed 
between  us  on  the  sixteenth  instant. 

He  asks  if  the  moment  has  not  arrived  when  our 
two  Governments  might  understand  each  other  as  to 
the  Spanish  American  colonies ;  and  if  so,  whether 
it  would  not  be  expedient  for  ourselves,  and  bene 
ficial  for  all  the  world,  that  our  principles  in  regard 
to  them  should  be  clearly  settled  and  avowed.  That 
as  to  England,  she  had  no  disguise  on  the  subject : 

1.  She  conceived  the  recovery  of  the  colonies  by 
Spain,  to  be  hopeless. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  413 

2.  That  the  question  of  their  recognition  as  Inde 
pendent  States,  was  one  of  time  and  circumstances. 

3.  That  England  was  not  disposed  however,  to 
throw  any  impediment  in  the  way  of  an  arrange 
ment  between  the  colonies  and  mother  country,  by 
amicable  negotiation. 

4.  That  she  aimed  at  the  possession  of  no  portion 
of  the  colonies  for  herself. 

5.  That  she  could  not  see  the  transfer  of  any  por 
tion  of  them  to  any  other  power,  with  indifference. 

That  if  the  United  States  acceded  to  such  views, 
a  declaration  to  that  effect  on  their  part,  concurrently 
with  England,  would  be  the  most  effectual  and  least 
offensive  mode  of  making  knowrn  their  joint  disap 
probation  of  contrary  projects;  that  it  w7ould  at  the  / 
same  time  put  an  end  to  all  the  jealousies  of  Spain 
with  respect  to  her  remaining  colonies ;  and  to  the 
agitation  prevailing  in  the  colonies  themselves,  by 
showing  that  England  and  the  United  States  were 
determined  not  to  profit  by  encouraging  it.  And  I 
am  asked  in  conclusion,  whether  I  consider  that  the 
full  power  which  I  had  lately  received  from  my 
Government  would  authorize  me  to  enter  into  nego 
tiation  to  sign  a  convention  on  the  above  subject ; 
and  if  not,  if  I  could  exchange  with  him,  as  the 
organ  of  the  British  Government,  ministerial  notes 
in  relation  to  it. 

Such  was  the  purport  of  his  communication.     It 
35* 


414  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

was  framed  in  a  spirit  of  great  cordiality,  and  ex 
pressed  an  opinion  that  seldom,  perhaps,  at  any  time 
among  nations,  had  an  opportunity  occurred  when  so 
small  an  effort  of  two  friendly  governments  might 
produce  so  unequivocal  a  good,  and  prevent  such 
extensive  calamities. 

August  23.  I  replied  to  Mr.  Canning's  note  to  the 
following  effect :  I  said  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  having  in  the  most  formal  manner 
acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  late  Spanish 
provinces  in  America,  desired  to  see  it  maintained 
with  stability,  and  under  auspices  that  might  pro 
mise  happiness  to  the  new  states  themselves,  as  well 
as  advantage  to  the  rest  of  the  world ;  and  that,  as 
conducing  to  those  great  ends,  my  Government  had 
long  desired,  and  still  anxiously  desired,  to  see  them 
received  into  the  family  of  nations  by  the  powers  of 
Europe,  and  especially  by  Great  Britain. 

That  in  other  respects,  I  believed  the  sentiments 
unfolded  in  his  note  were  shared  bv  the  United 

«/ 

States;  because,  first,  we  considered  the  recovery 
of  the  colonies  by  Spain,  to  be  entirely  hopeless. 
2.  We  would  throw  no  impediment  in  the  way  of  an 
arrangement  between  them  and  the  mother  country 
by  amicable  negotiation,  supposing  an  arrangement 
of  such  a  nature  to  be  possible.  3.  We  did  not  aim 
at  the  possession  of  any  of  those  communities  for 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  415 

ourselves.  Fourth  and  last,  we  should  regard  as 
highly  unjust,  and  as  fruitful  of  disastrous  conse- 
sequences,  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  any  Euro 
pean  power,  to  take  possession  of  them  by  conquest, 
by  cession,  or  on  any  other  ground  or  pretext  what 
ever. 

But  I  added,  that  in  what  manner  my  Government 
might  deem  it  most  expedient  to  avow  these  princi 
ples,  or  express  its  disapprobation  of  the  exception 
able  projects  alluded  to,  were  points  on  which  all 
my  instructions  were  silent,  as  well  as  the  power  I 
had  lately  received  to  enter  upon  negotiations  with 
His  Majesty's  Government;  but  that  I  would  prompt 
ly  make  known  to  the  President  the  opinions  and 
views  of  which  he  had  made  me  the  depository,  and 
that  I  was  of  nothing  more  sure  than  that  he  would 
fully  appreciate  their  importance,  and  not  less  the 
frank  and  friendly  feelings  towards  the  United  States 
which  their  communication  to  me  bespoke. 

I  immediately  transmitted  to  my  Government  a 
copy  of  the  foregoing  correspondence  in  the  follow 
ing  dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  State ;  preparing  it 
in  quadruplicate,  with  a  request  to  the  consul  at 
Liverpool  to  send  them  off  by  the  earliest  ships  for 
New  York  or  other  ports  of  the  United  States. 

LONDON,  August  23,  1823. 
SIR: 

I  yesterday  received   from  Mr.  Canning  a  note 


416  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

headed  "private  and  confidential/'  setting  before  me 
in  a  more  distinct  form,  the  proposition  respecting 
South  American  affairs  which  he  communicated  to 
me  in  conversation  on  the  sixteenth  instant,  as 
already  reported  in  my  dispatch  number  323.  I 
lose  no  time  in  transmitting  a  copy  of  his  note,  as 
well  as  a  copy  of  my  answer,  written  and  sent  to 
day. 

In  framing  the  answer  on  my  own  judgment 
alone,  I  feel  that  I  have  had  a  task  of  some  em 
barrassment,  and  shall  be  happy  if  it  receive  the 
President's  approbation. 

I  believe  that  this  Government  has  the  subject  of 
Mr.  Canning's  proposition  much  at  heart,  and  cer 
tainly  his  note  bears  upon  the  face  of  it  a  character 

v/ 

of  earnestness,  as  well  as  cordialty  towards  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States,  which  cannot  escape 
notice. 

I  have  therefore  thought  it  proper  to  meet  this 
spirit,  as  far  as  I  could,  consistently  with  other  and 
paramount  considerations. 

These  I  conceived  to  be  chiefly  twrofold ;  first,  the 
danger  of  pledging  my  Government  to  any  measure 
of  foreign  policy  which  might  in  any  degree,  now  or 
hereafter,  implicate  it  in  the  federative  system  of 
Europe ;  and  secondly,  I  have  felt  myself  alike  with 
out  warrant  to  take  a  step  which  might  prove  ex 
ceptionable  in  the  eyes  of  France,  with  whom  our 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  417 

pacific  and  friendly  relations  remain,  I  presume, 
undisturbed,  whatever  may  be  our  speculative  ab 
horrence  of  her  attack  upon  the  right  of  self-govern 
ment  in  Spain. 

In  framing  my  answer,  I  had  also  to  consider 
what  was  due  to  Spain  herself;  and  I  hope  that  I 
have  not  overlooked  what  was  due  to  the  colonies. 

The  whole  subject  is  novel,  and  open  to  views  on 
which  I  have  deliberated  anxiously.  If  my  answer 
shall  be  thought,  on  the  whole,  to  bear  properly  on 
all  the  public  considerations  wrhich  belong  most 
materially  to  the  occasion,  it  will  be  a  source  of  great 
satisfaction  to  me. 

The  tone  of  earnestness  in  Mr.  Canning's  note, 
naturally  starts  the  inference  that  the  British  Cabi 
net  cannot  be  without  its  serious  apprehensions  that1 
ambitious  enterprises  are  meditated  against  the  In 
dependence  of  the  new  Spanish  American  States ; 
whether  by  France  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with 
the  continental  powers,  I  cannot  now  say,  on  any 
authentic  grounds. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain 

With  very  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
The  Honorable 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS, 

Secretary  of  State. 


418  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

August  26.  To-day  brings  me  a  second  confiden 
tial  communication  from  Mr.  Canning,  of  the  follow 
ing  tenor,  dated  Liverpool,  the  twenty -third  instant : 
He  says,  that  since  he  wrote  to  me  on  the  twentieth, 
an  additional  motive  had  occurred  for  wishing  that 
we  might  come  to  some  understanding  promptly  on 
the  Spanish  American  question,  and  be  at  liberty  to 
announce  it  to  the  world.  The  motive  was,  that 
England  had  received  notice,  though  not  such  as 
imposed  the  necessity  of  instant  action,  that  as  soon 
as  the  military  objects  in  Spain  were  achieved,  which 
France  expected  (how  justly  he  could  not  determine,) 
to  achieve  very  speedily,  a  proposal  would  be  made 
for  a  congress  in  Europe,  or  some  other  concert  and 
consultation,  specifically  on  the  affairs  of  Spanish 
America;  and  he  adds,  that  he  need  not  point  out  to 
me  the  complications  to  which  such  a  proposal,  how 
ever  dealt  with  by  England,  might  lead. 

August  27.  I  reply  to  Mr.  Canning's  second 
communication  by  saying,  that  in  my  note  to  him  of 
the  twenty -third,  (not  received  when  his  second  was 
written,)  two  principal  ideas  had  place. 

1.  That  the  United  States  desired  to  see  the  Inde 
pendence  of  the  late  Spanish  Provinces  in  Ameri 
ca,  permanently  maintained. 

2.  That  they  would  view  as  unjust  and  improper, 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  419 

any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Powers  of  Europe  to 
intrench  upon  that  Independence. 

And  in  my  note  of  to-day  I  said,  that  my  Govern 
ment,  I  was  sure,  would  regard  as  alike  objection 
able,  any  interference  whatever  in  the  affairs  of 
Spanish  America,  unsolicited  by  the  late  Provinces 
themselves,  and  against  their  will;  that  it  would 
regard  the  convening  of  a  congress  to  deliberate 
upon  their  affairs  as  a  measure  uncalled  for,  and 
indicative  of  a  policy  highly  unfriendly  to  the  tran 
quillity  of  the  world ;  that  it  could  never  look  with 
insensibility  upon  such  an  exercise  of  European 
jurisdiction  over  communities  now  of  right  exempt 
from  it,  and  entitled  to  regulate  their  own  concerns 
unmolested  from  abroad.  I  further  said,  that  if  he 
supposed  any  of  these  sentiments,  or  those  expressed 
in  my  first  note,  might  be  moulded  by  me  into  a  form 
promising  to  accomplish  the  object  he  proposed,  I 
would  be  happy  to  receive  and  take  into  considera 
tion  whatever  suggestions  he  would  favor  me  with  to 
that  end,  either  in  writing,  or  in  the  full  and  unre 
served  intercourse  of  conversation  when  he  returned 
to  town.  Lastly  I  said,  that  could  England  see  fit 
to  consider  the  time  as  now  arrived  for  fully  acknow 
ledging  the  Independence  of  the  new  communities,  I 
believed,  that  not  only  would  it  accelerate  the  steps 
of  my  Government,  but  that  it  would  naturally  place 


420  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

me  in  a  new  position,  in  my  farther  course  with  him 
on  the  whole  subject. 

I  immediately  transmitted  copies  of  these  notes  to 
my  Government,  in  the  following  dispatch  to  the 
Secretary  of  State — to  go  with  like  promptitude  as 
the  former. 

LONDON,  August  28,  1823. 
SIR: 

Since  my  last  dispatch,  I  have  received  a  second 
confidential  note  from  Mr.  Canning,  dated  at  Liver 
pool,  the  twenty-third  instant,  a  copy  of  which,  and 
of  my  answer  dated  yesterday,  are  enclosed.  The 
subject  of  our  correspondence  being,  as  it  appears  to 
me,  of  deep  interest,  I  think  proper  to  apprise  you  of 
it  from  step  to  step,  without  waiting  for  the  further 
developments  to  which  it  may  lead. 

Mr.  Canning  having  now  distinctly  informed  me 
that  he  has  received  notice  of  measures  being  in 
projection  by  the  Powers  of  Europe  relative  to  the 
affairs  of  Spanish  America,  as  soon  as  the  French 
succeed  in  their  military  movements  against  Spain, 
which  it  would  seem  from  Mr.  Canning's  note  they 
expect  to  do  soon,  I  cannot  avoid  seeing  the  subject 
under  the  complications  to  which  he  alludes. 

My  first  object  will  be  to  urge  upon  this  Govern 
ment  the  expediency  of  an  immediate  and  unreserved 
recognition  of  the  Independence  of  the  Spanish  Ame 
rican  States. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  421 

It  will  be  seen  by  my  note  of  yesterday  to  Mr. 
Canning,  that  I  have  made  a  beginning  in  this  work, 
and  should  the  opportunity  be  afforded  me,  it  is  my 
intention  to  follow  it  up  zealously. 

Should  I  be  asked  by  Mr.  Canning,  whether,  in 
case  the  recognition  be  made  by  Great  Britain  with 
out  more  delay,  I  am  on  my  part  prepared  to  make  a 
declaration,  in  the  name  of  my  Government,  that  it 
will  not  remain  inactive  under  an  attack  upon  the 
independence  of  those  States  by  the  Holy  Alliance, 
the  present  determination  of  my  judgment  is,  that  I 
will  make  such  a  declaration  explicitly,  and  avow  it 
before  the  world. 

I  am  not  unaware  of  the  responsibility  which  I 
should,  by  such  a  measure,  assume  upon  myself; 
but  my  reasons  would  be  these : 

1.  I  may  thereby  aid  in  achieving  an  immediate 
and  positive  good  to  those  rising  States  in  our  hemis 
phere  ;  for  such  I  should  conceive  their  recognition 
by  Great  Britain  at  this  juncture,  to  be. 

2.  Such  recognition,  cooperating  with  the  decla 
ration  which  this  Government  has  already  in  effect 
made,  that  it  will   not  remain  passive  if  Spanish 
America  is  attacked,  and  followed  up  by  a  similar 
declaration  from  me  that  neither  will  the  United 
States,  would  prove  at  least  a  probable  means  of 
warding  off  the  attack.     The  Foreign  Secretary  of 

36 


422  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

England  it  appears,  is  under  a  strong  belief  that  it 
would;  and  this  without  the  recognition  by  Eng 
land,  being  as  yet  a  part  of  his  case. 

3.  Should  the  issue  of  things  be  different,  and 
events  notwithstanding  arise  threatening  the  peace 
of  the  United  States,  or  otherwise  seriously  to  affect 
their  interests  in  any  way  in  consequence  of  such  a 
declaration  by  me,  it  would  still  remain  for  the  wis 
dom  of  my  Government  to  disavow  my  conduct,  as  it 
would  manifestly  have  been  without  its  previous 
warrant.     I  would  take  to  myself  all  the  reproach, 
consoled  under  the  desire  that  had  animated  me  to 
render  benefits  of  great  magnitude  to  the  cause  of 
Spanish  American  Independence  at  a  point  of  time 
which,  if  lost,  was  not  to  be  recalled. 

4.  My  conduct  might  be  disavowed  in  any  issue 
of  the  transaction,  and  I  should  still  not  be  without 
hope  that  the  President  would  see  in  it  proofs  of 
good  intention,  mixed  with  zeal  for  the  advancement 
of  political  interests,  not  indifferent,  ultimately,  to 
the  welfare  of  the  United  States  themselves. 

The  result  of  my  reasoning  in  a  word  then  is, 
that  I  find  myself  placed  suddenly  in  a  situation  in 
which  by  deciding  and  acting  promptly,  I  may  do 
much  public  good,  whilst  public  mischief  may  be 
arrested  by  the  controlling  hand  of  my  Government, 
should  my  conduct  be  likely  to  draw  down  any 
mischief. 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  423 

I  conclude  with  the  usual  assurances  of  great  re 
spect  with  which 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  obedient  servant, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
The  Honorable 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS, 

Secretary  of  State. 


I  have  received,  and  this  day  acknow 
ledge,  the  Secretary  of  State's  dispatch,  number  70, 
of  the  second  of  July,  relative  to  the  North  West 
Coast  of  America;*  his  number  71,  of  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  July,  relative  to  maritime  questions,  and 
principles  of  maritime  and  commercial  neutrality; 
and  his  number  72,  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  July, 
embracing  some  general  reflections  upon  the  extent 
and  importance  of  the  whole  negotiation  committed 
to  my  hands. 

I  remark,  that  having  nowT  before  me  all  his  in 
structions,  I  am  fully  sensible  "of  the  magnitude  of 
the  subjects  to  be  treated  of;  "of  the  complicated 
character,"  here  using  some  of  the  Secretary's  own 
words,  "  of  the  considerations  involved  in  most  of 
them,  and  of  their  momentous  bearings,  in  present 
and  future  ages,  upon  the  interests,  the  welfare,  and 
the  honor  of  the  United  States."  I  add  the  expres 
sion  anew  of  the  deep  sense  which  I  entertain  of  the 

*  Oregon  Territory. 


424  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

President's  confidence  in  committing  to  my  hands 
negotiations  so  extensive. 

The  Secretary  in  his  number  72  also  mentions, 
that  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  at  the  period  of  its  date, 
was  at  New  York  on  the  eve  of  his  return  to  Eng 
land;  and  that  whilst  exercising  his  Mission  in  Wash 
ington,  he  had  shown  in  all  his  official  relations  with 
our  Government  a  "  very  high  sense  of  honor,  and 
connected  with  it,  a  quality  inestimable  in  a  states 
man — a  conscious  sense  of  moral  obligation;"  and 
that  his  conduct  during  his  residence  had  "been  in 
all  the  social  relations,  exemplary."  I  am  requested 
to  mention  these  sentiments  to  this  Government. 

September  1.  In  writing  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
on  the  importance  of  the  contemplated  negotiations, 
and  of  the  labor  of  investigation  as  well  as  extent  of 
responsibility  which  it  will  devolve  upon  me,  I  ex 
press  a  wish  that  the  President  would  be  pleased  to 
assign  me  a  colleague.  I  add,  that  to  associate  a 
colleague  with  me,  would  conform  to  the  past  prac 
tice  of  our  Government,  which  had  always  been, 
on  occasions  of  difficult  and  complicated  negotiations, 
to  employ  more  than  one  negotiator ;  more  especially, 
when  the  European  Power  employed  more  than  one. 

September  7.     I  receive  another  communication 
from  Mr.  Canning,  dated  Storrs,  Westmoreland,  the 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  425 

thirty-first  of  August.  He  acknowledges  the  re 
ceipt  of  both  my  letters  in  answer  to  both  of  his, 
and  says,  that  whatever  may  be  the  practical  results 
of  the  correspondence  between  us,  it  is  very  satisfac 
tory  to  him  to  find  that  the  spirit  in  which  it  began 
on  his  part,  had  been  met  so  cordially  on  my  part. 

He  goes  on  to  say  in  effect,  that  but  for  my  want 
of  specific  powers  to  go  forward  in  the  proposition 
he  made,  he  would  have  taken  measures  to  give  it 
operation  on  the  part  of  England;  but  that,  through 
the  delay  which  must  intervene  before  I  could  re 
ceive  new  powers  from  home,  events  might  get 
before  us ;  and  that  therefore  he  could  not  justify  it  to 
his  duty  to  his  own  Government,  and  to  all  the  other 
considerations  belonging  to  the  subject,  to  pledge 
England  to  wait  for  such  a  contingency — for  which 
he  assigns  his  reasons  with  frankness.  He  concludes 
by  saying,  that  if  I  should  see  enough  hope  of  good 
in  his  proposition  to  warrant  me  in  asking  powers 
and  instructions  in  relation  to  it,  in  addition  to  all 
the  other  heads  on  which  I  had  recently  been  em 
powered  and  instructed,  I  must  then  consider  it  not 
as  a  proposition  already^made,  but  as  evidence  of  the 
nature  of  one  which  it  would  have  been  his  desire  to 
make,  had  he  found  me  provided  with  ^authority  to 
entertain  it ;  this  view  of  the  subject  now  becoming 
necessary,  that  England  may  remain  un trammeled 
in  the  meantime. 

36* 


426  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1823. 

I  transmitted  this  last  communication  to  my 
Government  on  the  day  following,  saying  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  that  although  it  appeared  from  it, 
that  Mr.  Canning  was  not  prepared  to  pledge  this 
Government  to  an  immediate  recognition  of  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  new  states,  I  should  nevertheless 
renew  a  proposition  to  that  effect  when  we  met ;  but 
that  should  he  continue  to  draw  back  from  it,  I 
should  decline  acting  upon  the  overtures  contained 
in  his  first  note,  not  feeling  at  liberty  to  accede  to 
them  in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  but  upon  the 
basis  of  an  equivalent;  and  that,  as  I  viewed  the 
subject,  this  equivalent  could  be  nothing  less  than 
the  immediate  and  full  acknowledgment  of  those 
states,  or  some  of  them,  by  Great  Britain. 

September  10.  Take  steps  to  apprise  the  Deputies 
of  Spanish  America  in  London,  of  the  hostile  views 
of  France  and  the  continental  powers,  should  the 
arms  of  the  former  succeed  in  Spain.  I  make  no 
mention  of  Mr.  Canning's  name,  or  any  allusion  to 
it,  as  the  source  of  my  information ;  which  informa 
tion,  although  it  may  not  be  new  to  these  Deputies,  I 
impart  to  put  them  still  more  on  their  guard. 

• 

September  12.  Take  further  steps  to  warn  the 
Deputies  of  the  plans  of  France  and  the  Allies,  with 
holding  altogether,  as  before,  the  source  of  my  infor- 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  '  427 

mation,  but  letting  it  be  understood  that  the  informa 
tion  is  not  to  be  slighted. 

September  15.  Write  to  President  Monroe,  and 
in  continuation  of  the  Spanish  American  subject 
say,  that  Mr.  Canning  being  still  out  of  town,  I  was 
giving  myself  up  to  investigations  which  might  the 
better  prepare  me  for  taking  in  hand  the  various 
subjects  which  his  confidence  had  devolved  upon 
me,  to  discuss  and  arrange  with  this  Government; 
that  on  Mr.  Canning's  return,  I  should  expect  to  be 
invited  to  an  interview,  and  doubted  not  but  that  the 
whole  topic  of  Spanish  American  affairs  would  be 
resumed  between  us.  That  it  was  still  my  intention 
to  urge  upon  him  the  immediate  recognition  of  the 
new  states  by  Great  Britain,  as  the  only  footing 
upon  which  I  could  feel  warranted  in  acceding  to 
the  proposal  he  had  made  to  me ;  that  otherwise  our 
two  countries  would  not  stand  upon  equal  ground  in 
going  into  the  measure  proposed,  we  having  already 
acknowledged  the  new  states ;  but  that  I  would  con 
tinue  to  receive  in  the  most  conciliatory  manner,  new 
overtures  from  him,  should  he  meditate  any  new 
ones ;  for  that  my  most  careful  observation  in  Eng 
land  during  my  residence,  had  impressed  me  with 
the  belief,  that  the  present  Administration,  with  Lord 
Liverpool  still  at  its  head,  was  as  favorably  disposed 
towards  us  as  any  that  could  be  formed. 


428  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


FULL  INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.  CANNING  ON  THE  AFFAIRS 
OF  SPANISH  AMERICA,  AND  REPORT  OF  WHAT  PASSED 
TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
FURTHER  INTERVIEW  ON  THE  SAME  SUBJECT;  AND 
ON  THAT  OF  THE  NEGOTIATION — TO  THE  OPENING 
OF  WHICH  ENGLAND  ACCEDES.  MR.  HUSKISSON 
AND  MR.  STRATFORD  CANNING,  TO  BE  THE  BRITISH 
NEGOTIATORS.  RENEWED  INTERVIEW  WITH  MR. 
CANNING  ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  SPANISH  AMERICA, 
AND  REPORT  OF  WHAT  PASSED. 

September  18.  Had  a  full  conference  with  Mr. 
Canning  at  the  Foreign  Office,  in  which  the  subject 
of  Spanish  American  affairs  was  resumed,  and  the 
discussion  of  it  gone  into  at  large. 

September  19.  I  reported  in  the  following  dispatch 
to  the  Secretary  of  State,  all  that  passed  in  my  inter 
view  with  Mr.  Canning  yesterday ;  relying  only  upon 
the  substantial  fidelity  of  the  report,  as  it  must  needs 
fall  short  of  what  is  due  to  Mr.  Canning  in  language, 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  429 

though  I  endeavored  to  recall  his  own  words  as  far 
as  I  could. 

No.  331. 

LONDON,  September  19,  1823. 
SIR, 

Mr.  Canning  returned  to  town  about  a  week  ago, 
and  I  had  an  interview  with  him  at  the  Foreign 
Office  yesterday,  at  his  request. 

He  entered  at  once  upon  the  subject  of  Spanish 
America,  remarking  that  he  thought  it  claimed  pre 
cedence  over  all  others  between  us  at  the  present 
juncture.  Military  events  in  the  Peninsula,  seemed 
every  day  to  be  drawing  nearer  to  a  crisis  in  favor 
of  the  French  arms,  and  the  political  arrangements 
projected  afterwards,  would,  there  was  good  reason 
to  suppose,  be  immediately  directed  to  the  affairs  of 
the  late  colonies.  He  would  therefore  not  give  up 
the  hope,  notwithstanding  the  footing  upon  which 
this  subject  appeared  to  be  placed  at  the  close  of  our 
recent  correspondence,  that  I  might  yet  see  my  way 
towards  a  substantial  acquiescence  in  his  proposals. 
They  were  hourly  assuming  new  importance  and 
urgency,  under  aspects  to  which  neither  of  our 
Governments  could  be  insensible. 

Having  perceived  since  we  had  been  last  together, 
the  publication  in  the  newspapers  of  the  correspon 
dence  of  a  portion  of  the  merchants  of  London  with 
the  Foreign  Office,  respecting  the  appointment  of 


430  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

consuls  or  commercial  agents  for  the  Spanish 
American  states,  I  asked  Mr.  Canning,  whether  I 
was  to  infer  that  this  Government  was  about  to 
adopt  such  a  measure ;  to  which  he  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  saying  that  commercial  agents  would 
certainly  be  soon  appointed  and  sent  out  to  the  pro 
per  ports  in  those  new  communities. 

As  to  the  proposals  he  had  submitted  to  me,  I  said, 
that  I  was  sure  he  wrould  himself  appreciate  the 
delicacy  and  novelty  of  the  ground  upon  which  I 
stood.  The  United  States,  it  was  true,  would  view 
any  attempt  on  the  part  of  France  and  the  Conti 
nental  Alliance  to  resubjugate  those  new  states,  as  a 
transcendent  act  of  national  injustice,  and  indicative 
of  progressive  and  alarming  ambition;  yet  to  join 
Great  Britain  in  a  declaration  to  this  effect,  might 
lay  them  open  in  some  respects  to  consequences, 
upon  the  character  and  extent  of  which  it  became 
my  duty  to  reflect  with  great  caution,  before  making 
up  my  mind  to  meet  the  responsibilities  of  them. 
The  value  of  my  declaration,  it  was  agreed,  wrould 
depend  upon  its  being  formally  made  known  to 
Europe.  Would  not  such  a  step  wear  the  appear 
ance  of  the  United  States  implicating  themselves 
in  the  political  connexions  of  Europe  ?  Would  it 
not  be  acceding,  in  this  instance  at  least,  to  the 
policy  of  one  of  the  great  European  Powers,  in  op 
position  to  the  projects  avowed  by  others  of  the  first 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  431 

rank  ?  This,  hitherto,  had  been  no  part  of  the  sys 
tem  of  the  United  States ;  the  very  reverse  of  it  had 
been  acted  upon.  Their  foreign  policy  had  been 
essentially  bottomed  on  the  great  maxim  of  preserv 
ing  peace  and  harmony  with  all  nations,  without 
offending  any,  or  forming  entangling  alliances  with 
any.  Upon  the  institutions  as  upon  the  dissensions 
of  the  European  Powers,  the  government  and  people 
of  the  United  States  might  form  and  even  express, 
their  speculative  opinions ;  but  it  had  been  no  part 
of  their  past  conduct  to  interfere  with  the  one,  or, 
being  unmolested  themselves,  to  become  parties  to 
the  other.  In  this  broad  principle,  laid  one  of  my 
difficulties  under  his  proposals. 

He  replied,  that  however  just  such  a  policy  might 
have  been  formerly,  or  might  continue  to  be  as  a 
general  policy,  he  apprehended  that  powerful  and 
controlling  circumstances  made  it  inapplicable  upon 
the  present  occasion.  The  question  was  a  new  and 
complicated  one  in  modern  affairs.  It  was  also  full 
as  much  American  as  European,  to  say  no  more.  It 
concerned  the  United  States  under  aspects  and  in 
terests  as  immediate  and  commanding,  as  it  did  or 
could  any  of  the  States  of  Europe.  They  were  the 
first  Power  established  on  that  continent,  and  now 
confessedly  the  leading  Power.  They  were  con 
nected  with  Spanish  America  by  their  position,  as 
with  Europe  by  their  relations;  and  they  also  stood 


432  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

connected  with  these  new  states  by  political  rela 
tions.  Was  it  possible  they  could  see  with  indiffer 
ence  their  fate  decided  upon  by  Europe  ?  Could 
Europe  expect  this  indifference  ?  Had  not  a  new 
epoch  arrived  in  the  relative  position  of  the  United 
States  towards  Europe,  which  Europe  must  ac 
knowledge?  Were  the  great  political  and  commer 
cial  interests  which  hung  upon  the  destinies  of  the 
new  continent,  to  be  canvassed  and  adjusted  in  this 
hemisphere,  without  the  cooperation  or  even  know 
ledge  of  the  United  States  ?  Were  they  to  be  can 
vassed  and  adjusted,  he  would  even  add,  without 
some  proper  understanding  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  as  the  two  chief  commer 
cial  and  maritime  States  of  both  worlds?  He  hoped 
not,  he  would  wish  to  persuade  himself  not.  Such 
was  the  tenor  of  his  remarks. 

I  said  that  his  suggestions  were  entitled  to  great 
consideration,  and  that  such,  and  others  of  the  same 
nature,  would  probably  not  escape  the  attention  of 
my  Government,  as  they  had  not  mine.  There 
might,  I  was  aware,  be  room  for  thinking,  that  the 
late  formation  of  these  new  states  in  our  hemisphere, 
would  impose  new  political  duties  upon  the  United 
States,  not  merely  as  coupled  with  the  great  cause  of 
national  freedom,  but  as  closely  connected  also  with 
their  own  present  and  future  interests,  and  even  the 
very  existence,  finally,  of  their  own  institutions. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  433 

That  for  myself,  speaking  only  as  an  individual,  I 
could  well  conceive,  that  the  interposition  of  an 
authoritative  voice  by  the  United  States  in  favor  of 
these  new  communities,  admitting  that  the  Powers 
of  Europe  usurped  a  claim  to  control  their  destinies, 
would  imply  no  real  departure  from  the  principles 
which  had  hitherto  regulated  their  foreign  inter 
course,  or  pledge  them  henceforth  to  the  political 
connexions  of  the  old  world.  If,  too,  that  voice  hap 
pened  to  be  in  unison  with  the  voice  of  Great  Britain, 
I  admitted  that  it  might  prove  but  the  more  auspici 
ous  to  the  common  object  which  both  nations  had  in 
view,  without  committing  either  to  any  systematic 
or  ulterior  concert;  but  I  added,  that  as  the  question 
of  the  United  States  expressing  this  voice  and  pro 
mulgating  it  under  official  authority  to  the  Powers 
of  Europe,  was  one  of  entire  novelty  as  well  as  great 
magnitude  in  their  history,  it  was  for  my  Govern 
ment  and  not  me  to  decide  upon  its  propriety.  Con 
comitant  duties,  and  consequences  of  a  momentous 
nature,  might  be  bound  up  in  such  a  step.  I  was 
willing  to  take  upon  myself  all  fair  responsibility 
attaching  to  the  station  which  I  held ;  but  here  was 
a  conjuncture  wholly  new.  It  presented  a  case  not 
seeming  to  fall  within  the  range  of  any  of  the  con 
tingent  or  discretionary  duties  that  could  have  been 
in  contemplation  when  I  was  clothed  with  my  com 
mission  as  Minister  to  this  Court.  For  meeting  a 

37 


434  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1823. 

case  thus  extraordinary,  if  I  could  do  so  at  all,  I 
ought  to  have  some  justification  beyond  any  that  had 
yet  been  laid  before  me.  Such  was  my  opinion; 
such  the  conclusion  to  which  I  had  been  forced  to 
come  on  full  deliberation. 

He  said  that  the  case  being  new,  might  serve  to 
account  for  my  not  being  in  possession  of  previous 
or  specific  powers  bearing  upon  it,  but  that  its  very 
nature  precluded  delay.  He  had  the  strongest  rea 
sons  for  believing  that  the  cooperation  of  the  United 
States  w^ith  England,  through  my  instrumentality 
afforded  with  promptitude,  would  ward  off  altogether 
the  meditated  jurisdiction  of  the  European  Powers 
over  the  new  world.  Could  higher  motives  exist  to 
cooperation,  and  immediately?  Let  it  be  delayed 
until  I  could  receive  specific  powers,  and  the  day 
might  go  by ;  the  progress  of  events  w^as  rapid ;  the 
public  evil  might  come  on.  A  portion  of  it  might 
and  probably  would  be,  consummated;  and  even 
admitting  that  Great  Britain  could,  by  herself,  after 
wards  arrest  it,  preventive  measures  among  nations 
were  always  preferable,  whether  on  the  score  of 
humanity  or  policy,  to  those  that  were  remedial. 
Why  then  should  the  United  States,  whose  institu 
tions  resembled  those  of  Great  Britain  more  than 
they  did  those  of  the  other  Powers  in  Europe,  and 
whose  policy  upon  this  occasion  was  closely  approxi 
mated  to  hers,  hesitate  to  act  with  her  to  promote  a 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  435 

common  object,  approved  alike  by  both,  and  achieve 
a  common  good,  estimated  alike  by  both  ?  Such  was 
the  drift  of  his  remarks,  which  he  amplified  and 
enforced  with  his  wonted  ability.  He  finished  by 
saying,  that  his  station  and  duties  as  the  organ  of 
this  Government  would  oblige  him  to  call  upon  me 
in  another  way,  if  I  continued  to  feel  unable  to  assent 
to  his  past  proposals;  for  said  he,  "  If  a  congress  be 
in  fact  assembled  on  the  affairs  of  Spanish  America, 
I  shall  ask  that  you,  as  the  representative  of  the 
United  States  at  this  Court,  be  invited  to  attend  it; 
and  if  you  should  not  be  invited,  I  shall  reserve  to 
myself  the  option  of  determining  whether  or  not 
Great  Britain  will  send  a  representative  to  it."  After 
a  moment's  pause,  he  added,  "  Should  you  be  in 
vited  and  refuse  to  go,  I  shall  still  reserve  to  myself 
the  same  option ;  so  you  see  how  essential  it  is,  in 
the  opinion  of  Great  Britain,  that  the  United  States 
should  not  be  left  out  of  view,  if  Europe  should  deter 
mine  to  take  cognizance  of  the  subject."  Words  so 
remarkable  could  not  fail  to  make  a  distinct  impres 
sion  upon  me,  and  I  give  them  as  they  fell  from  him, 
as  nearly  as  I  can. 

"  The  complication  of  the  subject,"  said  I,  "  may 
be  cured  at  once,  and  by  Great  Britain.  Let  Great- 
Britain  immediately  and  unequivocally  acknowledge 
the  Independence  of  the  new  States.  This  will  put  an 
end  to  all  difficulty ;  the  moment  is  auspicious ;  every 


436  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823, 

thing  invites  to  the  measure,  justice,  expediency, 
humanity,  the  repose  of  the  world,  the  cause  of  na 
tional  independence,  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
both  hemispheres;  let  Britain  but  adopt  this  mea 
sure,  so  just  in  itself,  so  recommended  by  the  point  of 
time  before  us,  and  the  cause  of  all  Spanish  America 
triumphs;  the  European  Congress  might  meet  after 
wards,  if  it  chose  to  take  so  harmless  a  step." 

He  said  that  such  a  measure  was  open  to  objection, 
but  asked  if  he  was  to  understand  that  it  would 
make  any  difference  in  my  powers  or  conduct? 

I  replied,  the  greatest  difference.  I  had  frankly 
informed  him  that  I  had  no  powers  to  consent  to 
his  proposals  in  the  shape  in  which  they  had  first 
been  presented  to  me  in  his  note,  and  I  would  as 
frankly  say  that  I  had  no  specific  powers  to  consent 
to  them,  coupled  with  the  fact  of  this  Government 
,  acknowledging  the  independence  of  the  new  states ; 
but,  that  great  step  being  taken,  I  would  stand  upon 
my  general  powers,  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary.  Into 
these,  other  nations  would  have  no  claim  to  look.  I 
would  be  the  interpreter  of  them  myself.  I  had  no 
hesitation  in  saying,  that  under  their  general  war 
rant  I  would  put  forth  with  Great  Britain  the  decla 
ration  to  which  he  had  invited  me ;  that  I  would  do 
so  in  the  name  of  my  Government,  and  consent  to 
its  formal  promulgation  to  the  world,  under  all  the 
sanctions,  and  with  all  the  present  validity,  that  I 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  437 

could  impart  to  it.  I  had  examined  all  my  instruc 
tions  for  years  past,  bearing  either  directly  or  re 
motely  on  the  great  cause  of  these  new  states.  I 
saw  in  them  all  so  steady  and  strong  a  desire  for  the 
firm  establishment  of  their  freedom  and  indepen 
dence;  I  saw  too,  sometimes  in  their  letter  and 
always  in  their  spirit,  so  concurrent  a  desire  to  see 
their  independence  acknowledged  by  Great  Britain, 
as  I  had  often  made  known  to  Lord  Castlereagh, 
that  I  would  not  scruple,  on  seeing  that  important 
event  come  about,  to  lend  my  official  name  to  the 
course  proposed,  and  count  upon  my  Government 
stamping  with  its  subsequent  approval  the  part 
which  I  acted.  No  other  authority  would  be  likely 
in  the  mean  time  to  draw  into  question  what  I  did; 
and  if  I  could  thus  be  instrumental  in  any  degree 
towards  accelerating  the  acknowledgment  of  Spanish 
American  Independence,  I  should  feel  that  I  had 
achieved  a  positive  and  great  good.  Upon  British 
recognition  hung,  not  indeed  the  final,  but  perhaps 
in  an  eminent  degree  the  present  tranquillity  and 
happiness  of  those  states.  Their  final  safety  was 
not,  as  I  believed,  at  the  mercy  of  European  dicta 
tion  ;  but  we  could  not  disguise  from  ourselves  that 
it  might  prolong  their  sufferings  and  cast  fresh  clouds 
over  their  prospects.  It  was  in  this  manner  that  I 
expressed  myself,  imparting  to  him,  with  entire 

candor,  my  feelings  and  determinations ;  as  well  as 

37* 


438  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

the  precise  ground  upon  which  the  step  I  was  called 
upon  to  take,  ought  to  rest,  and  would  place  me. 

He  said  that  among  the  objections  to  recognizing, 
'at  present,  was  still  that  of  the  uncertain  condition, 
internally,  of  these  new  states,  or  at  any  rate  of  some 
of  them.  He  had,  for  example,  sent  an  agent  in 
January  last,  to  Mexico,  supposing  that  Yturbide, 
was  at  the  head  of  affairs;  but  by  the  time  he  had 
arrived,  a  fresh  revolution  had  set  up  other  represen 
tatives  of  the  executive  authority.  The  same  inter 
nal  vicissitudes  were  to  be  remarked  in  other  of 
these  communities,  more  to  the  south. 

Another  objection  he  said  was  started  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  Columbian  loan,  which  had 
created  uneasiness  in  portions  of  the  stock  market 
of  London  for  a  twelve  month  past.  It  was  true, 
that  as  this  subject  actually  stood,  the  British  Gov 
ernment  owed  no  obligation  to  those  British  subjects 
who  had  embarked  their  money  in  an  adventure,  of 
the  safety  of  which  they  had  themselves  chosen  to 
be  the  judges.  But  suppose  the  recognition  to  have 
been  made  by  Great  Britian  some  time  ago,  as  was 
wished,  and  the  loan  to  have  followed,  would  not  the 
duty  of  countenance  and  protection  have  attached, 
and  might  not  this  serve  to  portray  the  hazards  of 
coming  too  hastily  into  political  relations  with  new 
and  distant  states,  whose  credit,  or  whose  resources, 
in  their  transactions  with  the  subjects  of  other 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  439 

nations  did  not  as  yet  appear  to  rest  on  any  stable 
or  adequate  foundation  ? 

As  regarded  the  latter  topic  I  replied,  that  it  was 
beyond  my  competence  to  disentangle  all  its  details. 
All  that  I  could  say  was,  that  the  Government  of 
Columbia,  as  far  as  I  was  informed,  had  fallen  into 
no  departure  from  good  faith  in  the  transaction,  and 
it  yet  remained  to  be  known  whether  that  Govern 
ment  would  not  in  the  end  give  satisfaction  to  all 
the  parties  concerned.  But,  far  from  an  obstacle  to 
recognition,  it  appeared  to  me  that  the  incident  in 
question,  fairly  led  to  opposite  conclusions ;  for,  if 
Columbia  at  the  period  of  contracting  the  loan,  had 
been  admitted  to  regular  relations  with  this  Govern 
ment,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  powers  of  her 
diplomatic  agents  would  have  been  open  to  other 
examinations  than  they  appear  to  have  received,  and 
the  whole  transaction  thus  have  been  freed  from  the 
subsequent  embarrassments  which  surrounded  it. 

As  to  internal  vicissitudes,  I  remarked,  that  the 
dilemma  thence  arising  was  not  greater  than  had 
been  witnessed  in  France  during  a  period  of  more 
than  twenty  years,  while  her  revolution  was  in  pro 
gress  ;  than  had  been  seen  in  Naples  more  recently, 
or  than  was  experienced  at  the  present  time  by 
Great  Britain  in  her  diplomatic  intercourse  with 
both  Portugal  and  Spain.  Had  we  not  seen  revolu 
tions  and  counter  revolutions,  Royal  Governments, 


440  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1823. 

Constitutional  Governments,  and  Regency  Govern 
ments,  succeeding  each  other  almost  "day  by  day  in 
the  oldest  countries  of  Europe  ?  Why  then  be  sur 
prised  at  changes  in  the  new  world  ?  These  very 
changes  would  be  likely  to  be  largely,  if  not  entirely, 
checked,  by  the  fact  of  the  new  states  being  recog 
nized  by  Europe.  It  would  tend  to  give  stability  to 
their  institutions;  and,  by  breaking  down  the  hopes 
of  the  discontented  and  factious  among  themselves, 
become  guarantees  for  their  greater  internal  tran 
quillity.  They  had  given  ample  proofs  both  of  mili 
tary  power  and  political  wisdom.  Look  at  Buenos 
Ayres,  wilich  as  long  back  as  1807,  could  repulse 
the  well  appointed  legions  of  even  Britain  herself. 
Look  at  Columbia,  who  was  now  laying  the  ground 
work  of  a  confederacy  for  all  Spanish  America,  and 
at  the  same  time  marching  her  auxiliary  forces  into 
Peru,  to  uphold  the  cause  of  emancipation  upon 
that  shore.  Every  thing  attested  the  stability  of 
that  cause.  Spain  might  go  on  with  her  languid 
efforts  and  protract  the  miseries  of  war;  but  over 
Spanish  American  Independence,  she  had  no  longer 
any  control.  Europe  had  no  control  over  it.  It 
was  a  question  forever  settled.  It  would  soon  be 
seen  by  Britain  that  the  United  States  in  their  pro 
posals  for  adjusting  with  Russia,  and  with  Britain, 
the  respective  pretensions  of  the  three  powers  on  the 
coast  of  the  Pacific,  were  forced  to  take  for  granted 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  441 

the  Independence  of  all  the  late  colonies  of  Spain 
on  that  continent,  as  the  inevitable  basis  of  all  just 
and  practical  negotiation.  Their  independence  was, 
in  fine,  the  new  political  element  of  modern  times, 
and  must  henceforth  pervade  the  political  arrange 
ments  of  both  worlds.  Why  then  should  Britain 
longer  forbear  to  acknowledge  this  Independence  ? 
She  had  already  done  so  in  effect,  and  why  should 
she  not  in  form  ?  She  had  already  by  her  solemn 
statutes,  made  her  trade  with  those  new  states  law 
ful  ;  she  had  stood  ready  to  support  it  with  her 
squadrons ;  she  was  on  the  eve  of  sending  out  com 
mercial  agents  to  reside  in  some  or  all  of  them,  as 
the  guardians  of  British  interests — all  this  she  had 
done,  and  more.  She  had  declared  in  her  state 
papers,  that  the  question  of  their  Independence  was 
substantially  decided,  though  the  formal  recognition 
of  it  might  be  retarded  or  hastened  by  external  cir 
cumstances.  What  external  circumstances  could 
be  imagined  more  imperious  for  hastening  this  for 
mal  recognition  than  those  now  existing,  when  Spain 
was  seen  to  be  wholly  incapacitated  from  regaining 
dominion  over  them,  and  continental  Europe  medi 
tating  such  unwarrantable  designs  upon  them  ? 

It  was  thus  that  I  endeavored  to  unfold  what  I 
suppose  to  be  the  views  and  convictions  of  the  Presi 
dent,  upon  this  important  subject.  Our  conversation 
was  a  prolonged  one,  and  characterized  by  the  free- 


442  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

dom  with  which.  I  have  reported  it;  in  doing  which, 
I  have  sedulously  aimed  at  faithfully  presenting  all 
its  material  points.  I  do  not  flatter  myself  with  any 
sanguine  belief  that  this  Government  will  be  prepared 
to  yield  to  my  appeals,  in  favor  of  immediate  recog 
nition  ;  but  I  am  to  have  another  interview  with  Mr. 
Canning  on  a  day  that  he  is  yet  to  name,  and  I  can 
only  say,  that  I  will  be  prepared  to  renew  and  extend 
them  as  opportunities  may  be  afforded  me. 

Not  knowing  what  other  topics  might  rise  up 
during  our  interview,  I  had  carried  several  of  my 
papers  with  me,  and  amongst  them  a  copy  of  your 
dispatch,  number  71.  I  was  glad  that  I  did  so,  for 
thinking  that  the  sentiments  which  it  so  forcibly 
expresses,  on  the  value  of  the  existing  and  prospec 
tive  concord  between  our  two  countries,  would  be 
acceptable,  I  did  not  scruple,  in  unison  with  the 
spirit  of  our  conversation,  to  read  to  him,  before  we 
separated,  its  introductory  pages.  He  was  struck 
with  their  applicability,  and  I  hope  that  so  oppor 
tune  an  exhibition  to  him  of  such  sentiments,  recent 
ly  coming  to  me  from  the  high  source  of  my  Govern 
ment,  may  not  be  without  its  value. 

Should  a  congress  be  assembled  to  crush  Spanish 
American  Independence,  and  I  receive  an  invitation 
to  attend  it,  I  shall  not  go,  though  the  time  for  me  to 
say  so  here  will  not  arrive  until  the  invitation  comes. 
First,  I  should  have  no  warrant  from  the  President 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  443 

to  attend  it;  and  next,  I  infer  from  what  Mr.  Can 
ning  said  on  this  point,  that  England  may,  perhaps, 
not  incline  to  send  a  representative  to  it,  should  the 
United  States  have  none.  I  should,  in  this  manner, 
do  more  good  by  my  absence,  than  my  presence  could 
effect.  Mr.  Canning,  as  it  appeared,  was  not  entirely 
aware,  until  yesterday,  that  I  was  prepared  to  come 
fully  into  his  views,  if  this  Government  would  imme 
diately  acknowledge  the  new  States.  I  had  intended 
that  the  concluding  sentence  of  my  note  to  him  of  the 
twenty-seventh  of  August,  already  transmitted  to  you, 
should  start  the  idea  to  his  mind,  though  I  abstained 
from  putting  it  forth  more  openly  at  that  period  of 
our  correspondence. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

With  very  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
The  Honorable 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS, 

Secretary  of  State. 

September  26.  Had  another  interview  with  Mr, 
Canning  at  Gloucester  Lodge,  at  his  request.  The 
subject  of  our  discussions,  on  the  eighteenth  instant, 
was  renewed.  He  informed  me  of  a  dispatch  he  had 
received  from  Sir  Charles  Stuart,  British  Ambassa 
dor  at  Paris,  which  had  a  bearing  upon  them.  It 


444  RESIDENCE    AT    THE  [1823. 

mentioned  a  conversation  he  had  held  with  Mr. 
Sheldon,  Charge  d'affaires  of  the  United  States  at 
Paris,  the  purport  of  which  was,  that  Sir  Charles 
having  mentioned  to  Mr.  Sheldon  the  projects  of 
France  and  the  continental  Alliance,  against  Span 
ish  America,  the  latter  replied,  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  was  awrare  of  them,  and  disap 
proved  of  them.  Mr.  Canning,  inferring  that  this 
reply  of  our  Charge  d' Affaires,  in  Paris,  probably 
rested  upon  some  new  instructions  to  him  from 
Washington,  also  inferred  that,  if  so,  it  might 
probably  lend  its  aid  towards  my  consent  to  his 
proposals  to  me  of  the  twentieth  of  August.  He 
was  the  rather  induced  to  give  way  to  this  hope,  he 
said,  as  the  dispatch  of  Sir  Charles  Stuart  was  writ 
ten  altogether  on  his  own  motion,  without  any  pre 
vious  communication  received  from  him,  Mr.  Can 
ning,  upon  the  subject. 

I  replied,  that  I  could  not  undertake  to  say,  with 
any  confidence,  what  instructions  might  have  been 
sent  to  the  United  States  Legation  at  Paris  on  this 
subject;  but  that  I  scarcely  believed  that  any  could 
have  reached  it  not  common  to  me,  and  that  I 
was  still  without  any, -beyond  the  general  instruc 
tions  I  had  unfolded  to  him  in  our  interview  on  the 
eighteenth;  but  that  upon  their  basis  I  was  still 
willing  to  go  forward  with  him  in  his  proposals, 
upon  the  terms  I  had  made  known. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  445 

He  now  declared,  that  England  felt  great  embar 
rassment  as  regarded  the  immediate  recognition  of 
these  new  states ;  embarrassment  which,  he  admit 
ted,  had  not  existed  in  the  case  of  the  United  States 
when  they  adopted  the  measure  of  acknowledging 
them ;  and  then  he  asked,  whether  I  could  not  give 
my  assent  to  his  proposals  on  a  promise  by  England 
of  future,  acknowledgment. 

I  replied,  that  under  the  peculiar  importance  of 
the  whole  subject,  and  considering  the  relation  in 
which  I  stood  to  it,  I  could  not  feel  at  liberty  to  take 
the  step  upon  any  other  footing  than  that  of  imme 
diate  acknowledgment  by  England.  Further  con 
versation  passed,  'though  only  of  a  desultory  nature, 
and  the  interview  ended. 

In  reporting  to  my  Government  what  passed  at 
it,  I  remarked,  that  although  Mr.  Canning  naturally 
sought  ends  for  England  in  his  proposals  to  me, 
yet  as  they  were  at  the  same  time  auspicious  to 
Spanish  American  Independence,  and  went  hand  in 
hand  with  our  policy,  I  could  not  do  otherwise  than 
approve  of  them,  and  would  therefore  continue  my 
willingness  to  give  them  effect,  if  he  would  come  to 
the  ground  I  had  proposed  to  him  as  an  equivalent; 
a  ground,  however,  which  it  would  seem  from  what 
last  passed  between  us,  he  will  not  be  willing  to 
accede  to  at  present. 

38 


446  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

October  8.  Had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Canning 
at  the  Foreign  Office  at  his  request,  on  the  business 
of  the  general  negotiation. 

From  the  memorandum  which  I  had  left  with  him 
on  the  sixteenth  of  August,  he  proceeded  to  read 
over  in  their  order  the  subjects  proposed  to  be 
brought  into  the  negotiation,  and  after  making  a  few 
remarks  upon  each,  he  professed  it  to  be  his  desire 
to  take  them  all  up,  except,  perhaps,  the  subject  of 
maritime  rights.  Questions  under  this  head,  it  was 
rather  the  present  desire  of  His  Majesty's  Govern 
ment  to  leave  untouched,  though  he  did  not  mean,  as 
yet,  to  give  a  decided  opinion  to  that  effect. 

For  conducting  the  negotiation  on  the  side  of 
England,  he  informed  me  that  Mr.  Huskisson  and 
Mr.  Stratford  Canning  would  be  appointed,  the  latter 
having  returned  from  his  mission  to  Washington; 
and  that  all  the  subjects  would  be  committed  to  their 
hands,  except  that  of  the  slave  trade.  This  he  inti 
mated  it  to  be  his  present  wish  to  take  in  hand  him 
self,  and  thus  keep  it  detached  from  the  general 
negotiation.  I  replied,  that  I  understood  it  to  be 
rather  the  desire  of  my  own  Government  that  all  the 
subjects,  should,  if  possible,  be  discussed  and  settled 
together ;  but  as  he  continued  to  intimate  a  wish  to 
separate  this  one  subject  from  the  rest,  I  did  not 
deem  it  expedient  or  proper  to  object,  as  the  result, 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  447 

if  we  accomplished  any  thing,  would  be  substantially 
the  same. 

He  then  said  that  the  negotiation  might  commence 
the  latter  end  of  next  month,  if  I  would  be  ready  by 
that  time,  remarking  that  the  great  variety  of  the 
subjects  to  be* considered,  added  to  other  calls  upon 
his  own  time  as  well  as  Mr.  Huskisson's,  prevented 
the  assignment  of  an  earlier  day  for  its  commence 
ment.  I  replied  that  I  wmdd  be  ready  on  my  part 
at  that  time,  though  woiild  prefer  waiting  for  a  col 
league,  if  I  had  any  certainty  that  my  Government 
would  send  one  out  to  me.  He  said  he  would  wil 
lingly  wait  for  that  object,  if  I  wished  it. 

When  we  spoke  of  taking  up  the  question  of  the 
slave  trade,  I  thought  it  best  to  intimate  at  this  early 
stage,  that  unless  this  Government  was  prepared  to 
say,  that  it  would  cause  an  act  of  Parliament  to 
pass  declaring  the  trade  by  British  subjects  to  be 
piracy,  and  rendering  it  punishable  as  such,  in  man 
ner  as  had  been  done  by  an  act  of  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  I  was  not  authorized  to  enter  into  any 
negotiation  upon  the  subject.  He  said  in  reply,  that 
he  was  glad  to  think,  speaking  from  his  first  impres 
sions,  that  there  would  be  no  insurmountable  obstacle 
on  that  score. 

Nothing  passed  between  us  on  this  occasion  on 
the  topic  of  Spanish  American  affairs,  beyond  the 
information  which  he  gave  me  of  his  intention  to 


448  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

send  off  consuls  to  the  new  states  very  soon,  per 
haps  in  the  course  of  the  month.  I  asked  him 
whether  consuls,  or  commercial  agents?  He  said 
that  they  might  as  well  be  called  by  the  former 
name  perhaps,  as  they  would  be  charged  with  the 
duties  and  invested  with  the  powers-  belonging  to 
the  consular  office.  I  asked  whether  they  would  be 
received  in  that  capacity  by  Governments  between 
which  and  Great  Britain  no  political  or  diplomatic 
relations  yet  existed?  He  replied,  that  he  could 
not  speak  with  absolute  certainty,  but  his  anticipa 
tions  were  that  they  would  be  received. 

The  foregoing  information  was  forthwith  trans 
mitted  to  my  Government. 
/ 

November  25.  Had  a  full  and  final  interview 
yesterday  with  Mr.  Canning  at  the  Foreign  Office, 
on  the  affairs  of  Spanish  America. 

November  26.  Report  what  passed,  in  the  follow 
ing  dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

LONDON,  November  26,  1823. 
SIR: 

I  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Canning  oil  the 
twenty-foVmh  instant  at  the  Foreign  Office,  when 
he  afforded  me  important  information  on  Spanish 
American  affairs,  which  I  now  proceed  to  lay  before 
you. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  449 

He  began  by  saying  that  our  conversation  on  this 
subject  at  Gloucester  Lodge  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
September,  having  led  him  to  conclude  that  nothing 
could  be  accomplished  between  us,  owing  to  the 
ground  which  I  had  felt  it  necessary  to  take  respect 
ing  the  immediate  recognition  of  the  late  colonies 
by  Great  Britain,  he  had  deemed  it  indispensable, 
as  no  more  time  was  to  be  lost,  that  Great  Britian 
should  herself,  without  any  concert  with  the  United 
States,  come  to  an  explanation  with  France.  He  had 
accordingly  seen  the  Prince  de  Polignac,  (French 
Ambassador  in  London,)  and  stated  to  him  that  as 
it  was  fit  that  the  two  Courts  should  understand  each 
other  distinctly  on  the  Spanish  American  question, 
it  was  his  intention  to  unfold  the  views  of  Great 
Britain  in  an  official  note  to  him,  the  Prince ;  or  to 
Sir  Charles  Stuart,  the  British  Ambassador  at  Paris, 
to  be  communicated  to  the  French  Court ;  or  in  the 
form  of  an  oral  conference  with  the  Prince  himself, 
whichever  of  these  modes  the  latter  might  indicate 
as  preferable.  The  Prince,  after  taking  some  time> 
to  decide,  finally  agreed  to  adopt  the  mode  of  oral 
conference,  with  the  precaution  of  making  a  minute 

of  the  conversation  so  that  each  Government  micrht  \ 

°      \ 
have  in  its  possession  a  record  of  what  passed. 

In  pursuance  of  this  course,  Mr.  Canning  held 
several   conferences  with   Prince   Polignac  in  the 

early  part  of  October,  in  which  each  party  unfolded 

38* 


450  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

the  views  of  their  respective  Governments  and  agreed 
upon  the  written  memorandum  or  paper  which  was 
Ijto  embody  them. 

This  paper  Mr.  Canning  said  was  of  a  nature 
which  did  not  leave  him  at  liberty  to  offer  me  a  copy 
of  it ;  but  he  had  invited  me  to  the  Foreign  Office 
for  the  purpose  of  reading  it  to  me,  having  only  since 
his  return  from  the  country  last  week,  exhibited  it 
to  the  Ministers  of  the  other  Powers,  and  not  yet  to 
all  of  them. 

He  accordingly  read  the  paper  to  me.  When  he 
had  closed  I  said  to  him,  that  its  whole  matter  was 
so  interwoven  with  our  past  discussions,  written  and 
verbal,  on  the  whole  subject,  that  I  could  not  avoid 
thinking  that  my  Government  wrould  naturally  ex 
pect  a  copy,  as  the  regular  termination  of  a  subject 
the  previous  stages  of  which  it  had  been  my  special 
duty  to  make  known  to  my  Government.  To  this 
remark  he  replied  that  he  would  willingly  furnish 
me  with  a  copy  of  that  part  which  embodied  the 
views  of  England ;  but  that  where  those  of  France 
were  at  stake,  he  did  not  feel  that  he  had  the  same 
discretion.* 

I  am  therefore  relieved  from  the  task  of  recapitu 
lating  to  you  the  contents  of  that  portion  of  this 
paper  of  which  I  may  expect  to  receive  a  copy.  The 
points  which  chiefly  arrested  my  attention  as  new  to 

*  In  the  end,  I  was  furnished  with  a  copy  of  the  whole  paper. 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  451 

me,  and  to  which  I  will  advert  without  waiting  for 
the  paper  itself,  were,  first,  that  England  declares! 
that  she  will  recognize  the  independence  of  the  colo 
nies  in  case  France  should  employ  force  in  aid  of  their 
resubjugation :  secondly,  in  case  Spain  herself,  revert 
ing  to  her  ancient  colonial  system,  should  attempt  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  trade  of  Britain  with  those  colonies; 
but  it  is  not  said  what  Britain  will  do  beyond  recog 
nizing  their  independence,  her  ulterior  conduct  being 
left  to  be  shaped,  as  we  may  infer,  by  ulterior  events. 
She  claims  a  right  to  trade  with  the  colonies  under 
a  promise  by  Spain  herself,  given  as  long  back  as 
1810,  as  an  equivalent  for  British  mediation  offered 
at  that  day,  between  the  parent  state  and  the 
colonies.  As  regards  the  form  of  government  most 
desirable  for  the  colonies,  considered  as  independent 
States,  a  preference  is  expressed  for  monarchy,  could 
it  be  practicable. 

With  the  exception  of  the  foregoing  points,  I  re 
collect  nothing  material  in  the  paper  as  regards  the 
policy  or  intentions  of  Great  Britain,  not  heretofore 
made  known  in  my  own  communications  upon  this 
subject,  beginning  with  that  of  the  nineteenth  of 
August.  The  letter  of  Mr.  Canning  to  Sir  Charles 
Stuart  of  the  thirty-first  of  March,  1823,  is  still 
assumed  as  the  basis  of  the  policy  of  England.* 

*  This  is  the  state  paper  which,  besides  giving-  the  general  views  of  Britain 
as  regards  the  colonies,  contains  also  the  full  avowal  of  her  opinions  on  the 


452  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

To  report  with,  the  requisite  accuracy  the  views 
of  France  from  this  paper,  read  over  but  once  to  me, 
I  might  find  a  task  the  more  difficult  from  having 
had  less  acquaintance  with  them  beforehand.  I  will 
therefore  not  attempt  to  do  so  in  any  detail,  from  a 
fear  that  I  might  err;  and  because  I  have  also  the 
hope  that  an  entire  copy  of  it,  although,  not  given  to 
me,  will  get  to  your  hands  through  some  other  chan 
nel.  I  am  not  able,  for  my  own  share,  to  discern 
the  adequate  motives  for  wrapping  it  up  in  such 
secrecy,  and  have  little  doubt  but  that  even  the  pub 
lic  journals  of  Europe  will,  before  very  long,  en 
lighten  us  with  sufficient  precision  on  its  whole  con 
tents.  The  London  journals  of  the  present  week, 
have  made  some  beginning  towards  it. 

Having  said  thus  much,  I  will  proceed  in  my 
endeavors  to  state  the  main  points  of  this  paper, 
where  it  was  illustrative  of  the  policy  of  France. 

It  declares  that  France,  like  England,  considers 
the  recovery  of  the  colonies  by  Spain  as  hopeless. 

It  expresses  the  determination  (I  think  this  was 
the  word)  of  France  not  to  assist  Spain  in  attempt 
ing  their  reconquest. 

then  approaching  war  between  France  and  Spain,  stating  her  uniform  en 
deavors  with  the  European  Powers  to  induce  them  to  abstain  from  interfer 
ing  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Spain,  and  declaring  that  so  long  as  the  strug 
gles  and  disturbances  of  Spain  should  be  confined  within  the  circle  of  her 
own  Territory,  they  could  not  be  admitted  by  the  British  Government  to  afford 
any  plea  for  foreign  interference. 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  453 

It  expresses  the  desire  of  France  to  see  the  dis 
pute  made  up  by  amicable  arrangements  between 
the  mother  country  and  the  colonies. 

It  disclaims  for  France  all  idea  of  exclusive  com 
mercial  advantages  from  the  colonies,  saying  that, 
like  Britain,  she  only  asks  to  be  placed  upon  the  same 
footing  with  the  most  favored  nation,  after  Spain. 

It  knows  not  wrhat  there  is  to  be  recognized  in  the 
colonies,  as  Independent;  France  regarding  all  gov 
ernment  there  as  a  mockery. 

It  labors  to  show  the  necessity  of  assembling 
Congress  to  which  England  should  be  a  party, 
(which  she  declines)  to  bring  about  the  benevolent 
end  of  reclaiming  those  remote  regions  from  their 
past  errors,  and  making  up  the  dispute  between 
them  and  the  parent  state  on  terms  satisfactory  to 
both,  as  the  policy  worthy  of  both. 

These  were  the  material  points  of  the  paper  as  I 
recollected  them  after  listening  to  a  single  perusal  of 
it.  I  am  sensible  that  I  state  some  of  them  in  a  way 
to  start  further  questions  as  to  their  true  meaning ; 
questions  which  I  could  myself  raise  without  being 
able  at  this  moment  to  solve.  The  apprehensions  of 
Britain  however  seem  to  be  fully  allayed,  at  least  for 
the  present ;  and  it  is  certain  that  she  does  not  now 
anticipate  any  speedy  interruption  of  the  peace  of 
Europe  from  this  cause.  The  language  which 
France  now  holds  to  Britain,  is  obviously  at  vari- 


454  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1823. 

ance  with  that  which  her  manifestos  breathed  when 
her  troops  entered  Spain  in  the  spring. 

In  the  course  of  the  paper  on  the  British  side, 
there  is  a  notice  taken  of  the  interest  which  the 
United  States  have  in  the  question.  This  is  met  on 
the  part  of  France  by  a  declaration  that  she  does  not 
profess  to  be  acquainted  with  our  views  on  the  sub 
ject.  The  notice  of  the  United  States  is  in  that  part 
of  the  British  paper  which  relates  to  the  assembling 
of  a  Congress  in  Europe.  I  might  probably  have 
made  myself  more  accurately  master  of  the  whole 
paper,  by  recurring  in  conversation  to  some  of  the 
passages  after  Mr.  Canning  had  finished  reading  it; 
but  I  was  precluded  the  opportunity  by  the  near  ap 
proach  of  another  appointment  impending  over  him. 
Notwithstanding  the  tranquilizing  professions  of 
France,  it  would  seem  that  the  sentiments  of  Russia, 
if  we  may  draw  inferences  from  Pozzo  di  Borgo's 
address  to  the  King  of  Spain,  which  has  just  come 
before  the  world,  still  are,  that  the  Holy  Alliance  is 
bound  to  keep  a  superintending  eye  upon  the  affairs 
of  Spain  throughout  all  her  dominions. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

With  very  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

RICHARD 
The  Honorable 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS, 

Secretary  of  State. 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  455 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

COURSE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  REGARD  TO  SPAN 
ISH  AMERICA.  DECLARATIONS  OF  PRESIDENT  MON 
ROE  IN  HIS  MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS,  DECEMBER 
1823,  RESPECTING  THE  NEW  STATES  OF  SPANISH 
AMERICA,  AND  NON-COLONIZATION  ON  THE  AMERI 
CAN  CONTINENTS.  THEIR  RECEPTION  IN  EUROPE. 
DINNER  AT  THE  DUKE  OF  SUSSEX'S ;  AT  MR.  CAN 
NING' S.  INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.  CANNING  ON  THE 
SUBJECT  OF  THE  APPROACHING  NEGOTIATION;  NORTH 
WEST  COAST  OF  AMERICA  (OREGON  TERRITORY), 
THE  PROMINENT  TOPIC.  ANOTHER  INTERVIEW  WITH 

MR.  CANNING;  NORTH  WEST  COAST  AGAIN  THE  TOPIC. 

% 

ENGLAND  OBJECTS  TO  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  NON-COLO 
NIZATION,  TAKEN  IN  THE  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. 
INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.  CANNING  PREPARATORY  TO 
OPENING  THE  NEGOTIATION. 

The  dispatch  with  which  the  preceding  chapter 
closed,  substantially  terminated  the  correspondence 
and  conferences  I  had  held  with  Mr.  Canning  on  the 
topic,  so  interesting  at  that  juncture  both  to  Europe 


456  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1823. 

and  America,  of  Spanish  American  affairs.  I  had 
further  conferences  with  him,  but  none  necessary  to 
be  recounted,  as  they  made  no  change  in  the  course 
of  England. 

The  plans  of  France  as  regards  the  new  States, 
which  were  understood  to  be  fully  the  plans  of  her 
continental  allies  also,  had  certainly  changed  from 
those  which  her  manifestos  implied  when  her  army, 
reputed  at  a  hundred  thousand  men,  entered  Spain 
under  the  Duke  D'Angouleme  in  April  1823,  on  its 
destination  to  Cadiz ;  which  destination  it  reached, 
over  all  opposition.  The  object  of  that  invasion, 
was  the  overthrow  of  the  constitutional  government 
in  Spain,  on  the  alleged  ground,  among  others,  of 
liberating  the  King  from  the  trammels  of  the  Cortes. 

That  the  change  in  France  and  her  allies,  was 
produced  by  the  knowledge  that  England  would 
oppose,  at  all  hazards,  hostile  plans  upon  Spanish 
America,  may  be  inferred  with  little  danger  of  error. 
The  certainty  of  it,  is,  indeed,  part  of  European 
history  at  that  epoch. 

And  now  I  am  to  speak  of  the  course  of  the  United 
States.  By  the  early  transmission  of  the  proposals 
made  to  me  by  Mr.  Canning  in  his  notes  of  the  latter 
end  of  August,  the  copies  of  them,  as  well  as  of  my 
reports  of  our  conferences  on  the  whole  subject, 
arrived  at  Washington  in  time  to  engage  the  delibe 
rations  of  President  Monroe  and  his  cabinet,  before 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  457 

the  meeting  of  Congress  in  December.  The  Cabinet 
was  still  composed  of  the  names  given  in  Chapter 
IV.  of  the  former  volume;  and  it  was  very  satis 
factory  to  me  to  learn,  that  the  part  I  had  acted  was 
approved.  Although  in  the  end  no  concerted  move 
ments  took  place  between  the  two  Governments,  the 
communications  to  me,  from  the  Secretary  of  State, 
in  responding  to  the  overtures  of  Mr.  Canning,  were 
in  a  high  degree  conciliatory  towards  England ;  and 
framed  with  every  just  sensibility  to  the  frank  and 
friendly  spirit  of  those  overtures.  This  I  duly  made 
known  to  Mr.  Canning. 

But  although  no  joint  movement  took  place,  my 
dispatches  had  distinctly  put  before  our  Government 
the  intentions  of  England ;  with  which,  in  the  main, 
our  policy  harmonized ;  and  President  Monroe  in  his 
opening  message  to  Congress,  which  followed  almost 
immediately  afterwards  in  December  1823,  put  forth 
the  two  following  declarations : 

1.  That  it  was  impossible  for  the  Allied  Powers  to 
extend  their  political  system  to  any  part  of  America, 
without  endangering  our  peace  and  happiness ;  and 
"  equally  impossible  therefore  that  we  should  behold 
such  interposition  with  indifference." 

2.  Whilst  alluding  to  discussions  between  the 
United  States  and  Russia,  then  commenced  with  a 
view  to  arranging  the  respective  claims  of  the  two 
nations  on  the  North  West  Coast  of  America,  the 

39 


458  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

President  also  declared,  that  "  the  occasion  had  been 
judged  proper  for  asserting,  as  a  principle  in  which 
the  rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States  were 
involved,  that  the  American  Continents,  by  the  free 
and  independent  condition  which  they  had  assumed 
and  maintained,  were  henceforth  not  to  be  considered 
as  subjects  for  future  colonization  by  any  European 
Power." 

The  first  of  these  declarations  was  probably  ex 
pected  by  England,  and  was  well  received.  Every 
body  saw  at  once  that  it  referred  to  the  hostile  plans 
of  the  Allied  Powers  against  the  late  Spanish  Pro 
vinces. 

The  second  declaration  was  unexpected  and  not 
acquiesced  in,  as  accounts  I  am  yet  to  give  of  nego 
tiations  with  the  British  Government  will  make 
known. 

When  the  message  arrived  in  London,  the  whole 
document  excited  great  attention.  It  was  upon  all 
tongues ;  the  press  was  full  of  it ;  the  Spanish  Ame 
rican  Deputies  were  overjoyed;  Spanish  American 
securities  rose  in  the  stock  market,  and  the  safety 
of  the  new  States  from  all  European  coercion,  was 
considered  as  no  longer  doubtful. 

It  may  be  inferred  that  my  dispatches  reporting  all 
that  had  transpired  with  Mr.  Canning,  had  an  influ 
ence  in  producing  the  declarations  in  President 
Monroe's  message.  It  may  also  be  inferred,  that  the 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  459 

moral  certainty  which  England  derived  through  my 
correspondence  and  conferences  with  her  Foreign 
Secretary,  that  the  United  States  would,  in  the  end, 
go  hand  in  hand  with  her  in  shielding  those  new 
States  from  European  domination,  even  had  the 
certainty  of  such  a  policy  in  the  United  States  not 
been  otherwise  deducible,  must  have  had  its  natural 
influence  upon  England  in  strengthening  her  in  her 
line  of  policy  laid  down  towards  France  and  the 
Continental  Powers. 

As  it  is  now  for  the  first  time  that  I  make  this 
subject  public,  I  will  give  the  reasons;  if,  indeed, 
any  can  be  necessary  at  this  late  day.  For,  first,  we 
are  at  a  point  of  time  nearly  twenty-three  years 
removed  from  the  events,  and  an  entire  change  has 
come  over  the  feelings,  obligations,  and  circum 
stances,  creating  motives  for  secrecy.  While  the 
events  were  at  all  fresh,  and  long  after,  I  carefully 
abstained  from  giving  them  publicity  in  either  hem 
isphere;  but  they  have  passed  into  history,  and 
silence  has  lost  its  power  over  them.  I  do  not  pub 
lish  Mr.  Canning's  notes,  which  have  never  been  out 
of  my  own  possession,  but  have  given  the  essential 
points  laid  down  in  them ;  leaving  the  copies  of  them 
on  the  archives  of  our  Government,  to  which,  with 
his  knowledge,  I  first  transmitted  them.  2.  Being  on 
those  archives  during  so  many  years,  they  have  una 
voidably  been  inspected  for  public  use ;  and  accord- 


460  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

ingly,  parts  of  their  contents,  and  those  of  my  reports 
on  the  subject,  have  been  proclaimed  in  Congress, 
piecemeal,  as  well  as  found  their  way  into  newspa 
pers  of  the  United  States  long  ago,  and,  it  may  be, 
into  English  newspapers  also.  3.  In  Stapleton's 
"  Political  Life  of  Mr.  Canning,"  published  in  Lon 
don  in  1831,  the  essential  matter  of  these  notes  to 
me  has  already  been  published,  volume  second,  page 
23,  and  the  subject  explained  on  the  side  of  England. 
What  is  now  published,  does  nothing  more  than  fol 
low  up  what  was  fully  opened  in  that  interesting 
work  more  than  ten  years  ago,  by  those  who  had  the 
just  fame  of  Mr,  Canning  in  charge;  and  seems 
necessary  in  order  to  make  known  the  share  which 
the  Minister  of  the  United  States  had  in  the  interna 
tional  movement  in  question;  a  movement  of  like 
concern,  as  far  as  it  proceeded,  to  both  nations. 

It  cannot  be  necessary  that  I  should  say  more  on 
this  head;  and  thus  I  close  the  subject,  having  given 
the  foregoing  general  explanation  of  it  all. 

November  28.  Passed  last  evening  at  Count  Mun- 
ster's,  Grosvenor  Place,  where  we  had  most  of  the 
Diplomatic  Corps,  and  other  company.  My  wife 
says,  that  Count  d'Aglie,  the  Sicilian  Minister,  told 
her,  that  the  late  King,  George  III.,  in  talking  once 
to  the  Dutch  Ambassador,  called  Holland  an  aquatic 
Power.  The  King  used  the  term  in  good  humor, 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  461 

but  the  Count  added,  that  the  Ambassador  did  not 
quite  like  it. 

November  30.  Dined  at  the  Duke  of  Sussex's, 
Kensington  Palace.  Prince  Cimitilli,  Mr.  Roscoe, 
(author  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici,)  Sir  James  Macin 
tosh,  Dr.  Lushington,  of  the  civil  law  courts,  Mr. 
Denman,  Mr.  Jekyll,  and  others,  made  the  party. 

His  Royal  Highness,  the  Duke,  uttered  sentiments 
favorable  to  constitutional  liberty,  with  his  accus 
tomed  frankness  and  fervor,  Mr.  Roscoe  seconding 
every  thing  of  this  nature.  The  former  asked  if  we 
had  any  tories  left  in  the  United  States.  I  said,  a 
few,  probably,  in  their  abstract  notions  of  govern 
ment.  Mr.  Roscoe  asked,  if  they  wished  reunion 
with  England.  I  replied,  that  I  did  not  believe 
there  was  a  single  individual  in  our  country  who 
entertained  such  a  wish ;  we  had  grown  too  strong 
in  ourselves.  The  voluminous  and  complicated 
state  of  the  English  law  became  a  topic.  Dr. 
Lushington  remarked,  that  no  man  could  compre 
hend  it  all,  and  that  it  called  loudly  for  revision  and 
arrangement.  He  alluded  to  the  numerous  and 
increasing  subdivisions  in  the  profession  of  the  law, 
as  a  consequence  of  the  confusion  and  entanglements 
of  the  law  itself,  and  thought  it  operated  unfavorably 
upon  the  profession,  tending  to  cramp  the  minds 

39* 


462  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

of  its  members,  by  limiting  the  range  of  their  pro 
fessional  knowledge. 

Cards  being  spoken  of,  His  Royal  Highness  said 
that  the  division  and  numbers  of  the  pack  were  sup 
posed  to  have  had  a  connexion  among  the  Egyp 
tians,  (he  gave  cards  that  antiquity,)  with  astronomi 
cal  science.  First,  the  fifty-two,  composing  the  pack, 
answered  to  the  weeks  of  the  year;  next,  thirteen  of 
a  kind  agreed  with  the  fourth  part  of  the  year,  divided 
into  weeks ;  then  again,  four  different  kinds,  answer 
ed  to  the  four  seasons ;  and,  lastly,  by  counting  up 
from  the  ace  to  ten,  then  counting  the  knave  as 
eleven,  the  queen  as  twelve,  and  king  as  thirteen, 
you  get  ninety-one.  Four  ninety-ones  give  you 
three  hundred  and  sixty-four,  the  number  of  days, 
according  to  some  calculations,  in  the  year. 

His  Royal  Highness  mentioned  that  the  English 
Government  had  a  plan  for  purchasing  up  the  whole 
slave  population  of  their  West  India  Islands,  to  get 
rid  of  slavery  in  them.  This  was  new  to  me,  and 
seemed  so  to  others  at  table.  At  first  blush  I 
thought  it  struck  all,  as  very  bold  if  not  imprac 
ticable. 

How  far  the  great  West  India  emancipation  act, 
since  carried  into  effect  by  Britain,  on  the  foun 
dation  of  what  the  Duke  of  Sussex  then  said,  will 
result  favorably  to  the  interests  of  humanity  in 


1823.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  463 

those  Islands,  does  not,  as  yet,  seem  to  have  been 
ascertained. 


December  10.  Dined  at  Mr.  Canning's,  Glouces 
ter  Lodge.  Mr.  Planta,  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  Mr. 
Chinnery,  and  a  few  others  were  the  guests. 

At  dinner,  Mr.  Canning  took  less  than  his  usual 
share  of  the  conversation,  leaving  it  chiefly  to  his 
guests.  Ships  and  steamboats  formed  one  of  the 
topics.  All  agreed  that  naval  science  was  on  the 
eve  of  great  revolutions  and  soon  to  be  carried  to  a 
much  higher  pitch  than  the  present  or  past  ages  had 
witnessed.  Much  was  said  under  this  head. 

At  this  classic  villa  of  the  Foreign  Secretary, 
one  of  the  suite  of  rooms,  is  the  library.  We 
went  into  it,  to  coffee,  after  leaving  the  dinner  table, 
The  conversation  here  became  literary.  Washing 
ton  Irving's  Sketch  Book  was  spoken  of,  and  highly 
commended.  Mr.  Canning  said  it  was  a  work  of 
extraordinary  merit :  but  he  preferred  the  American 
pieces.  In  this  preference,  others  joined.  The 
"Dutch  Schoolmaster"  and  "Kip  Van  Winkle," 
were  singled  out,  as  rich  in  humor.  The  topic 
changing,  Swift  came  on  the  tapis.  Several  of  his 
pieces  were  called  up,  with  genuine  gusto.  Mr.  Can 
ning  was  on  a  sofa;  Mr.  Planta  next  to  him.  "  Planta," 
said  Mr.  Canning,  "  pray  hand  down  the  volume  con 
taining  the  voyages,  and  read  the  description  of  the 


464  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1823. 

storm  in  the  voyage  to  Brobdignag ;  seamen  say  that 
it  is  capital,  and  as  true  nautically,  as  Shakspeare 
always  is,  when  he  undertakes  to  use  sea  terms." 
Mr.  Planta  took  down  the  volume  and  read  the  pas 
sage.  One  sentence  runs  thus:  "It  was  a  very 
fierce  storm,  the  sea  broke  strange  and  dangerous; 
we  hauled  off  upon  the  laniard  of  the  whip  staff, 
and  helped  the  man  at  the  helm"  When  he  was 
done,  all  admired  the  passage,  under  this  new  view 
and  commendation  of  it,  which  Mr.  Canning  had 
given  us.  He  himself  said  nothing  for  a  few  mo 
ments,  but  sat  silent;  then,  as  if  in  a  reverie,  he 
uttered  in  a  low  tone,  yet  distinctly,  the  words 
"  and  helped  the  man  at  the  helm!  and  helped  the  man 
at  the  helm! 7"  repeating  them.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
helm  at  the  Foreign  Office,  with  all  its  anxieties,  had 
suddenly  shot  into  his  mind,  clouding,  for  the  mo 
ment,  his  social  ease.  His  familiar  friends  of  the 
circle,  even  bantered  him  a  little,  on  that  fancy.  He 
declared  off,  however,  and  only  said  that  it  was  a  fine 
passage.  So  passed  this  agreeable  evening  in  the 
library  at  Gloucester  Lodge. 

April  23.  [I  antedate  once  more  in  the  present 
year,  to  allude  to  an  official  dinner  at  Gloucester 
Lodge.]  Dined  at  Mr.  Canning's.  The  entertain 
ment  was  in  honor  of  the  King's  birth-day.  We 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  465 

had  all  the  Ambassadors  and  Ministers,  and,  in  addi 
tion,  two  Princes  of  Bentheim,  one  of  them  a  gene 
ral  in  the  Austrian  service;  Sir  George  Rose,  late 
British  Minister  at  Berlin;  Lord  Clanwilliam,  his 
successor;  Sir  Brook  Taylor,  English  Minister  at 
Munich;  Sir  Henry  Wellesley,  now  English  Ambas 
sador  at  Vienna ;  Lord  Fitzroy  Somerset,  Mr.  Planta, 
Lord  Francis  Conyngham,  Lord  Howard  de  Wai  den, 

and  Lord Bentinck. 

The  table  glittered  with  plate ;  and  the  glittering 
costumes  of  the  Ambassadors,  was  superadded.  I 
sat  next  but  one  to  Mr.  Canning,  and  had  Sir  Henry 
Wellesley  on  my  left.  With  the  latter  I  had  con 
versation  about  Spain,  where  he  had  recently  been 
Ambassador.  I  found  little  opportunity,  at  so  large 
and  ceremonious  a  dinner,  of  conversing  with  Mr. 
Canning ;  but  was  able  to  make  a  brief  allusion  to 
what  had  fallen  from  him  in  the  House  of  Commons 
a  few  days  before,  on  the  neutral  course  of  the 
United  States  in  '93,  saying  with  what  pleasure  I 
had  read  it.  He  replied  to  my  remark  by  saying, 
that  he  had  lately  been  examining  the  State  papers  of 
our  Government  at  that  era,  and  that  they  presented 
in  his  opinion,  especially  the  letters  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
while  Secretary  of  State,  principles  well  fitted  to 
enter  into  a  neutral  code.  The  Ambassador  of  the 
Netherlands,  who  sat  close  by,  appeared  to  listen 
with  as  much  interest  as  I  did,  to  this  tribute  from 


466  RESIDENCE   AT   THE  [1823. 

such  a  source,  to  the  American  defence  of  neutral 
rights. 

It  may  be  worth  subjoining,  that  another  of  the 
European  Ambassadors,  and  from  a  larger  Power, 
,who  sat  further  off  from  Mr.  Canning  at  this  dinner, 
sought  me  out  on  the  day  following  when  I  met  him 
at  another  dinner,  on  purpose  to  ascertain  what  it 
was  Mr.  Canning  had  said  to  me  about  neutral 
rights,  remarking  that  he  had  caught  just  enough  of 
his  words  to  know  the  subject,  but  nothing  more.  I 
told  him ;  adding,  that  what  he  had  publicly  said  in 
the  House  of  Commons  on  the  sixteenth  of  April, 
amounted  in  effect  to  the  same  thing. 

December  12.  Had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Can 
ning,  on  the  subject  of  the  general  negotiation.  He 
asked  if  I  still  despaired  of  having  a  colleague.  I 
said  not  utterly ;  but  my  hope  was  so  slender,  that  I 
could  not  justify  it  to  my  duty  to  ask  any  delay 
whatever  in  bringing  on  the  negotiation,  but  would 
be  ready  at  any  time.  As  a  further  motive  to  an 
early  beginning  I  remarked,  that  perhaps  we  might 
then  hope  to  get  through  with  some  of  the  heaviest 
parts  before  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  February; 
after  which  his  own  and  Mr.  Huskisson's  engage 
ments  in  the  House  of  Commons  might  be  likely  to 
interpose  delays  to  our  progress.  He  informed  me 
that  the  instructions  on  their  side  were  in  daily 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  467 

course  of  preparation,  but  that  he  did  not  now  think 
a  beginning  could  be  made  with  any  advantage  on 
the  score  of  expedition,  until  after  the  Christmas 
holidays,  and  that  these  would  not  be  over  until 
after  the  first  week  in  January,  when  twelfth  night 
festivities  would  be  at  an  end. 

He  further  informed  me,  that  he  was  upon  the  eve 
of  writing  to  Sir  Charles  Bagot,  their  Ambassador  at 
St.  Petersburg,  on  the  subject  of  the  Russian  Ukase 
of  September,  1821,  relative  to  the  North  West 
Coast  of  America,  and  that  if  I  could  previously 
impart  to  him  some  of  the  views  of  the  United 
States  on  this  subject,  perhaps  it  might  prove  useful 
to  our  ulterior  discussions.  I  promised  to  do  so. 

December  17.  Had  an  interview  this  morning 
with  Mr.  Canning  at  Gloucester  Lodge,  expressly 
sought  on  his  part  with  a  view  to  speak  to  me  on  the 
subject  of  the  North  West  Coast  of  America. 

Learning  on  my  arrival  that  he  was  laboring  un 
der  an  attack  of  gout,  I  would  have  deferred  the 
interview  to  suit  his  convenience ;  but  he  had  given 
orders  for  receiving  me  in  his  chamber,  into  which  I 
went,  where  I  found  him  in  bed,  though  anxious  to 
see  me.  His  motive  he  said  was,  to  be  put  in  pos 
session  of  an  outline  of  our  views  in  regard  to  the 
North  West  Coast,  before  preparing  his  instructions 
to  their  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg  on  the  same 


468  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

subject.  I  accordingly  stated  them.  A  map  of  the 
coast  and  country,  was  spread  upon  the  bed,  and, 
whilst  his  head  was  raised  up  on  pillows,  I  was  able 
to  point  his  attention  to  the  lines  on  the  map  which 
traced  our  title.  He  went  into  no  remarks,  beyond 
simply  intimating  that  our  claim  seemed  much  be 
yond  any  thing  England  had  anticipated.  I  said 
that  I  had  the  hope  of  being  able  to  show  its  good 
foundation  when  the  negotiation  came  on.  Further 
conversation  of  a  general  nature  passed  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  on  coming  away  I  left  with  him,  at  his 
request,  a  brief,  informal,  statement  or  memorandum 
of  our  claim,  in  writing. 

Vespasian  when  too  ill  to  sit  up  and  attend  to 
business,  gave  audience  to  Ambassadors  in  bed. 
Lord  Chatham  when  confined  to  his  bed  with  the 
gout,  received  and  did  business  with  his  colleagues 
of  the  administration.  Here,  in  addition,  a  Foreign 
Secretary  of  England  in  bed  with  the  gout,  receives 
and  transacts  business  with  a  Foreign  Minister. 

December  18.  Yesterday,  before  night  came  on, 
Mr.  Canning's  servant  brought  me  a  private  note. 
It  was  familiarly  written,  telling  me  that  he  remain 
ed  as  when  I  saw  him ;  but  that  when  I  had  left 
him,  he  naturally  looked  at  my  memorandum,  and, 
when  he  did  look  at  it,  how  could  he  help  exclaim- 


1823.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  469 

ing,    "What  is  here?"     "Do   I   read    Mr.    Rush 
aright?'7 

"  The  United  States  will  agree  to  make  no  settle 
ment  north  of  fifty-one,  on  Great  Britain  agreeing  to 
make  none  south  of  that  line." 

"  So  far  all  is  clear,"  continues  Mr.  Canning  in 
his  note.  "'The  point  of  contact  is  touched,  and 
consequently  the  point  of  possible  dispute  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain ;  but  the  memo- 
rand  um  goes  on," 

"Or  north  of  fifty-five!" 

"  What  can  this  intend,"  continues  his  note.  "  Our 
northern  question  is  with  Russia,  as  our  southern 
with  the  United  States.  But  do  the  United  States 
mean  to  travel  north  to  get  between  us  and  Russia  ? 
and  do  they  mean  to  stipulate  against  Great  Britain, 
in  favor  of  Russia,  or  reserve  to  themselves  whatever 
Russia  may  not  want?" 

The  note  ends  with  saying,  that  he  had  given  me 
only  his  first  thoughts,  and  hoped  I  would  "help 
him  to  clear  the  perplexity  of  them." 

I  aimed  at  this  by  answering  his  note,  instanter. 
I  said  that  it  was  even  so;  our  proposal  was,  that 
Great  Britain  should  forbear  further  settlements 
south  of  51,  and  nortli  of  55,  for  we  supposed  that 
she  had  in  fact  no  settlements  above  55 ;  and  we 
supposed  55  to  be  also  the  southern  limit  of  Russia, 
it  being  the  boundary  within  which  the  Emperor 

40 


470  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1823. 

Paul  granted  certain  commercial  privileges  to  his 
Russian  American  Company  in  '99.  Fifty-one  was 
taken,  my  answer  went  on  to  say,  as  the  northern 
limit  of  the  United  States,  because  necessary  to  give 
us  all  the  waters  of  the  Columbia;  and  it  added,  that 
we  had  no  design  to  concede  to  Russia  any  system 
of  colonial  exclusion  above  55,  or  deprive  ourselves 
of  the  right  of  traffic  with  the  natives  above  that 
parallel.  This  was  the  general  explanation  I  gave 
of  the  little  memorandum  in  writing,  I  had  left  with 
Mr.  Canning;  which,  brief  as  it  was,  had  been 
carefully  formed  from  my  instructions.  My  note 
concluded  with  saying,  that  I  was  charged  by  my 
Government  with  other  views  of  the  whole  subject, 
which,  when  the  negotiation  came  on,  I  had  the 
hope  would  be  satisfactorily  demonstrated. 

Under  this  date,  (the  18th,)  I  received  a  second 
familiar  note  from  Mr.  Canning,  written  from  his 
bed,  in  which  he  says  that  he  would  take  my  expla 
nation  "like  the  wise  and  wary  Dutchman  of  old 
times,  ad  referendum,  and  ad  consider  andum" 

January  2,  1824.  Had  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Canning  at  Gloucester  Lodge,  at  his  request.  His 
attack  of  gout  had  passed  off.  The  interview  was 
mainly  to  confer  on  the  subject  of  the  North  West 
Coast.  He  objected  strongly  to  our  claim  going  as 
high  north  as  fifty-one,  and  hoped  we  would  not 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  471 

urge  it.  He  said,  that  it  was  to  the  south  of  this 
line  that  Britain  had  her  dispute  with  Spain  about 
Nootka  Sound.  How,  therefore,  could  she  now 
yield  this  point  to  the  United  States?  It  was  a 
question  too  important  for  her  to  give  up.  He  again 
hoped  we  would  not  urge  it. 

The  President's  message  having  arrived  since  our 
last  interview,  he  referred  to  that  part  of  it  which 
holds  out  the  principle  that  the  United  States  will 
henceforth  object  to  any  of  the  powers  of  Europe 
establishing  colonies  on  either  of  the  continents  of 
America.  If  I  had  instructions,  he  wished  me  to 
state  the  precise  nature  and  extent  of  this  principle. 
He  had  not  before  been  aware  of  it.  Suppose,  for 
example,  that  Captain  Parry's  expedition  had  ended, 
or  that  any  new  British  expedition  were  to  end,  in 
the  discovery  of  land  proximate  to  either  part  of 
the  American  continent,  north  or  south,  would  the 
United  States  object  to  Britain  planting  a  colony 
there?  I  said,  that  when  such  a  case  arose,  it  might 
be  considered ;  that  I  had  no  instructions  on  the  prin 
ciple  since  it  was  proclaimed  in  the  message,  but 
would  be  prepared  to  support  it  when  the  negotia 
tion  came  on.  He  then  said,  that  he  would  be  under 
the  necessity  of  addressing  me  an  official  note  on  the 
subject,  prior  to  writing  to  their  Ambassador  at  St. 
Petersburg,  or  else  decline  joining  us  in  the  nego 
tiation  with  Russia,  relative  to  the  North  West  Coast, 


472  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

as  we  had  proposed.  The  latter  (not  to  join  us)  was 
the  course  which  he  would  prefer,  not  desiring  to 
bring  this  part  of  the  message  into  discussion  at  pre 
sent,  as  England  must  necessarily  object  to  it.  Fur 
ther  conversation  passed,  as  to  the  best  mode  of  deal 
ing  with  the  principle  in  our  approaching  negotiation. 

January  5.  Had  another  interview  with  Mr.  Can 
ning,  relative  to  the  north  west  coast.  He  said,  that 
he  was  still  embarrassed  in  the  preparation  of  his 
instructions  to  Sir  Charles  Bagot,  in  consequence 
of  the  non-colonization  principle  laid  down  in  the 
President's  message,  and  hoped  I  would  be  inclined 
to  the  negotiation  proceeding  separately,  without 
England  joining  with  the  United  States,  as  contem 
plated  by  my  Government.  I  replied,  that  I  was 
entirely  willing  that  the  negotiation  should  take  that 
course. 

January  6.  In  a  dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  of  this  date,  I  mention  Mr.  Canning's  desire 
that  the  negotiation  at  St.  Petersburg  on  the  Rus 
sian  "Ukase  of  September  1821  respecting  the  North 
West  Coast,  to  which  the  United  States  and  Eng 
land  had  equally  objected,  should  proceed  separately, 
and  not  conjointly,  by  the  three  nations,  as  proposed 
by  the  United  States,  and  my  acquiescence  in  this 
course.  It  being  a  departure  from  the  course  my 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  473 

Government  had  contemplated,  I  give  the  following 
reasons  for  it. 

1.  That  whatever  force  of  argument  I  might  be 
able  to  give  to  the  principle  of  non-colonization  as  laid 
down  in  the  President's  message,  which  had  arrived 
in  England  since  my  instructions  for  the  negotiation, 
my  opinion  was,  that  it  would  still  remain  a  subject 
of  contest  between  the  United  States  and  England ; 
and  that,  as  by  all  I  could  learn  since  the  message 
arrived,  Russia  also  dissented  from  the  principle,  a 
negotiation  at  St.  Petersburg  relative  to  the  North 
West  Coast,  to  which  the  three  nations  were  parties, 
might  place   Russia  on  the  side  of  England  and 
against  the  United  States.     This  I  thought  had  bet 
ter  be  avoided. 

2.  That  a  preliminary  and  detached  discussion  of 
so  great  a  principle,  against  wrhich  England  pro 
tested    in    limine,   brought    on    by  me  when   her 
Foreign  Secretary  was  content  to  wave  the  discus 
sion  at  present,  and  preferred  doing  so,  might  have 
an  unpropitious  influence  on  other  parts  of  the  nego 
tiation  of  more  immediate  and  practical  interest. 

3.  That  by  abstaining  from  discussing  it  at  pre 
sent,  nothing  was  given  up.     The  principle  as  pro 
mulgated  in  the  President's  message,  would  remain 
undiminished,  as  notice  to  other  nations,  and  a  guide 
to  me  in  the  general  negotiation  with  England  when 
that  came  on. 

40* 


474  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

The  foregoing  were  the  reasons  which  determined 
me  to  the  departure.  My  conferences  on  the  subject 
with  Mr.  Canning,  which  began  on  the  second  in 
stant,  were  resumed  and  concluded  only  yesterday, 
that  I  might  allow  myself  full  time  for  deliberation. 

January  21.  Had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Canning 
at  the  Foreign  Office.  Mr.  Huskisson  and  Mr. 
Stratford  Canning  were  present.  It  was  agreed  that 
the  general  negotiation  should  be  opened,  in  form,  on 
the  twenty-third  instant  at  the  Office  of  the  Board 
of  Trade. 

I  then  handed  Mr.  Canning  a  paper  containing 
the  following  list  of  the  subjects.  1.  Commercial 
Intercourse  between  the  United  States  arid  the  Bri 
tish  North  American  Colonies,  and  West  India 
Islands ;  connecting  with  these  heads  the  question 
of  the  navigation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence.  2.  Sup 
pression  of  the  Slave  Trade.  3.  Boundary  Line 
under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  4.  Ad 
mission  of  Consuls  of  the  United  States  into  the 
Colonial  Ports  of  Britain.  5.  Newfoundland  Fish 
ery.  6.  Relative  claims  of  the  two  nations  on  the 
North  West  Coast  of  America — [the  Oregon  ques 
tion].  7.  Debateable  questions  of  Maritime  Law. 

Some  conversation  passed  as  to  the  order  in  which 
the  subjects  were  to  be  taken  up,  when  it  was  agreed 
that  we  would  begin  with  the  Slave  Trade. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  475 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE  GENERAL  NEGOTIATION  OPENS.  SUBJECT  OF  THE 
SLAVE  TRADE  FIRST  TAKEN  UP.  DINNER  AT  THE 
DUKE  OF  SUSSEX'S  ;  AT  MR.  STRATFORD  CANNING'S. 
RENEWED  INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.  SECRETARY  CAN 
NING,  ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  SPANISH  AMERICA. 
SECOND  MEETING  OF  THE  PLENIPOTENTIARIES  ON 
THE  BUSINESS  OF  THE  NEGOTIATION.  INTERVIEW 
WITH  THE  DEPUTIES  FROM  GREECE.  THIRD  MEET 
ING  OF  THE  PLENIPOTENTIARIES ;  WEST  INDIA  AND 

COLONIAL  TRADE — NAVIGATION  OF  THE  ST.  LAW 
RENCE.  DINNER  AT  PRINCE  POLIGNAC's,  THE 
FRENCH  AMBASSADOR.  FOURTH  MEETING  OF  THE 
PLENIPOTENTIARIES.  DINNER  AT  THE  MARQUIS  OF 
LANSDOWNE'S;  AT  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON'S;  AT 
MR.  PEEL'S.  FIFTH,  SIXTH  AND  SEVENTH  MEETINGS 

OF  THE  PLENIPOTENTIARIES.  CONVENTION  RELA 
TIVE  TO  THE  SLAVE  TRADE  FINALLY  AGREED  UPON 
AND  SIGNED.  ITS  PARTIAL  RATIFICATION  BY  THE 
SENATE,  AND  HISTORY  OF  ITS  ULTIMATE  DEFEAT. 

January  23.     The  negotiation  opens  at  the  Office 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Great  George  street,  West- 


476  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

minster.  The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  Mr.  Hus- 
kisson  and  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  hand  me  for  in 
spection  their  original  full  power  from  the  King ; 
and  I  hand  them  mine  under  the  President's  auto 
graph,  constituting  me  the  Plenipotentiary  of  the 
United  States.  Their's,  in  describing  my  appoint 
ment,  speak  of  it  as  having  been  by  the  President 
with  the  consent  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States. 
I  pointed  out  the  inaccuracy,  mentioning  that  the 
Senate  only,  was  associated  with  the  President  in 
the  appointing  power;  but  on  their  asking  if  I 
thought  it  material,  I  said  no,  being  only  surplus 
age  ;  and  both  powers  being  found  in  due  and  proper 
form  in  all  other  respects,  copies  were  exchanged, 
each  party  attesting  his  own. 

It  was  agreed  that  all  our  discussions  should  be 
carried  on  by  conference  and  protocol,  with  the  in 
sertion  on  the  protocol  of  such  written  documents  as 
either  party  might  deem  necessary,  either  as  matter 
of  record  or  explanation ;  and  that  the  business  of 
the  negotiation  should  be  conducted  in  all  respects, 
as  far  as  practicable,  according  to  the  precedents  of 
the  negotiation  between  the  two  nations  in  1818. 
The  British  Plenipotentiaries  informed  me  that  they 
had  appointed  Mr.  Lack  their  Secretary. 

It  having  been  agreed  that  the  subject  of  the 
Slave  Trade  should  be  taken  up  first,  I  proceeded  to 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  477 

open  it  on  the  side  of  the  United  States.  After 
making  all  such  statements  and  remarks  on  the  sub 
ject  as  seemed  to  me  necessary  to  introduce  and  ex 
plain  it,  according  to  the  true  spirit  in  which  I  had 
been  instructed  by  my  Government  to  present  it,  I 
concluded  by  reading  the  entire  projet  of  the  con 
vention  transmitted  to  me  by  the  Secretary  of  State 
with  his  dispatch  of  the  twenty-fourth  of  June, 
1823. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  said  that  they  would 
take  the  whole  into  careful  consideration.  They 
remarked,  that  Britain  wanted  nothing  on  her  part 
to  put  down  this  trade  so  far  as  her  own  subjects 
were  concerned,  her  laws  against  it  being  already 
effectual,  and  having  put  a  stop  to  it  as  far  as  laws 
could.  I  replied,  that  such  was  also  the  case  with 
the  United  States;  that  for  ourselves,  we  wanted 
nothing  further,  and  offered  this  projet  only  to  meet 
the  call  for  a  substitute  for  the  British  proposals 
hitherto  made  to  us,  but  which  the  United  States, 
under  their  constitutional  system  and  for  other 
reasons,  had  been  compelled  to  decline ;  and  also  to 
meet  the  request  expressed  in  a  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  passed  by  a  vote  nearly 
unanimous,  in  the  winter  of  1823.  I  added,  that  in 
the  projet  I  had  submitted,  the  first,  second,  fourth 
and  ninth  articles  were  to  be  considered  as  embody 
ing  principles  not  to  be  departed  from.  We  ad- 


478  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

journed  at  four  o'clock,  to  meet  again  on  the  twenty- 
ninth. 

Immediately  after  the  negotiation  was  in  due  form 
opened,  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  remarked,  in 
manner  altogether  conciliatory,  that  should  our 
labors  unfortunately  end  without  any  treaties  grow 
ing  out  of  them,  which  however  they  did  not  wish 
or  mean  to  anticipate,  the  failure  would  at  least  not 
disturb  the  good  understanding  subsisting  between 
the  two  nations ;  a  remark  to  which  I  cordially  re 
sponded. 

January  25.  Dined  with  the  Duke  of  Sussex, 
where  we  had  a  small  party.  On  rising  from  table, 
we  went  into  the  rooms  containing  his  Royal  High- 
ness's  library,  in  one  of  which  coffee  was  served. 
The  whole  suite  was  lighted  up,  enabling  us  to  range 
through  them,  and  glance  at  the  books.  The  entire 
collection  was  stated  to  be  fifty  thousand  volumes, 
chiefly  formed  by  himself  within  a  few  years.  They 
are  arranged  in  different  rooms  according  to  the  sub 
jects.  Of  theology,  there  were  said  to  be  fifteen 
thousand  volumes,  comprising  one  thousand  different 
editions  of  the  Bible,  several  of  them  polyglot  edi 
tions,  his  Royal  Highness  being  a  good  linguist,  and 
fond  of  biblical  learning.  The  first  Bible  ever 
printed  with  types  was  in  the  collection.  One 
hundred  and  thirty  guineas  was  the  price  given  for 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  479 

it,  and  it  seemed  to  be  prized  even  beyond  that  sum 
by  its  royal  owner.* 

January  26.  Dined  at  Mr.  Stratford  Canning's. 
Mr.  Huskisson  was  there,  and  requested  that  our 
second  meeting  might  take  place  on  the  second  of 
February,  instead  of  the  twenty-ninth  instant  as  first 
appointed,  which  was  agreed  to.  Mr.  Secretary 
Canning  was  of  the  party,  and  much  pleased  with 
the  commencement  of  our  work  on  the  Slave  Trade. 
He  had  been  informed  of  my  projet  of  a  convention, 
called  it  a  promising  "  first  step,"  and  one  which  he 
hoped  would  be  productive  of  good  fruit  in  the  end. 

February  1.  Had  an  interview"  with  Mr.  Canning 
at  Gloucester  Lodge  on  Spanish  American  affairs.  I 
read  to  him  a  dispatch  received  from  the  Secretary 
of  State  dated  the  twenty-ninth  of  November,  1823, 
which  laid  down  the  principles  of  my  Government 
on  this  subject,  and  gave  answers  to  his  propositions 
and  communications  to  me  of  last  summer  and 

*  This  liberal-minded  and  excellent  Prince,  died  a  year  or  two  ago.  He 
was  always  attentive  to  American  gentlemen,  when  afforded  opportunities  of 
making  their  acquaintance.  None  shared  more  largely,  or  better  merited, 
his  esteem,  than  Mr.  Stevenson,  our  late  Minister  to  England ;  and  I  per- 
haps  may  here  add,  that  when  the  latter  was  about  to  visit  Paris  in  1837, 
with  his  accomplished  Lady,  his  Royal  Highness,  on  his  own  friendly  im 
pulse,  gave  him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  King  of  the  French  not  less 
striking  by  the  respect  and  good-will  it  breathed  towards  the  United  States, 
than  its  great  cordiality  to  Mr.  Stevenson  personally.  I  derive  this,  not  from 
Mr.  Stevenson  himself,  but  from  an  authentic  source. 


480  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

autumn — the  basis  of  which  intervening  events  had 
changed. 

Mr.  Canning  then  mentioned  to  me  the  present 
position  of  England  in  relation  to  this  subject;  and 
that  it  might  be  known  to  me  the  more  precisely,  he 
handed  me  for  perusal  a  dispatch  which  he  had  pre 
pared  to  Sir  William  A'Court,  British  Ambassador 
at  Madrid,  of  date  so  recent  as  the  thirtieth  of  Janu 
ary.  It  was  written  in  consequence  of  the  Ambas 
sador's  having  informed  his  Government  that  Spain 
had  again  been  addressing  herself  to  France,  Austria, 
and  Russia,  calling  on  them  to  hold  a  congress  at 
Paris  (to  which  England  was  not  to  be  invited)  for 
the  purpose  of  assisting  Spain  in  the  recovery  and 
establishment  of  her  authority  over  her  colonies  in 
America.  I  read  the  dispatch  entirely  through. 
The  substance  of  it  was : 

1.  That  England  disapproves  of  the  plan. 

2.  That  she  thinks  the  day  gone  by  for  all  inter 
ference  towards  a  settlement  of  this  contest,  unless 
on  the  basis  of  the  Independence  of  the  new  States; 
and  that  she,  England,  is  willing  to  mediate  between 
the  parties  on  that  basis,  but  no  other. 

3.  But  that  she  is  nevertheless  willing  that  Spain 
should  be   allowed  special   advantages  over   other 
nations,  England  being  still  content  to  stand  on  the 
footing  of  the  most  favored  nation,  after  Spain. 

4.  She  expresses  a  desire  that  Spain  should  herself 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  481 

be  the  first  among  European  Powers,  to  acknow 
ledge  their  Independence;  and  that  she  should  do  it 
promptly.  The  dispatch  urges  this  measure  strongly ; 
and  intimates  it  to  be  the  intention  of  England  to 
wait  awhile  longer  in  the  hope  of  its  adoption. 

5.  But  that,  should  Spain  refuse  to  adopt  it,  or 
indefinitely  put  off  the  recognition  of  the  new  states, 
England  will  herself  recognize  them  ;  and  that  this 
may  even  happen  in  a  few  months. 

Such  was  this  official  paper  resolved  into  its  essen 
tial  points.*  Mr.  Canning  said  to  me  in  conclusion, 
that  he  had  no  belief  whatever  that  any  congress 
would  now  be  held,  and  before  I  came  away,  ex 
pressed  anew  his  wishes  for  the  auspicious  progress 
of  our  negotiation. 

February  2.  The  Plenipotentiaries  of  the  two 
Governments  met  according  to  appointment  at  the 
same  place  as  before.  The  British  Plenipotentiaries 
had  drawn  up  the  protocol  of  our  first  conference, 
which,  with  some  additions  to  it  which  I  suggested, 
was  agreed  to. 

They  then  went  at  large  into  the  consideration  ot 
some  of  the  articles  I  had  submitted  on  the  slave 
trade.  They  raised  objections  to  some  of  the  provi 
sions,  made  queries  as  to  others,  and  were  full  and 

*  A  full  copy  of  it  was  afterwards  sent  to  me,  which  I  transmitted  to  my 
Government. 

41 


482  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

free  in  their  general  remarks.  I  replied  to  them  all, 
under  the  lights  of  my  instructions,  and  such  others 
as  occurred  to  me.  Many  of  their  objections  and 
difficulties,  they  admitted,  went  rather  to  the  details 
of  the  plan  than  its  substance ;  and  they  said  that 
they  would  consult  more  fully  with  their  law  offi 
cers,  under  every  anxiety  to  see  all  objections  satis 
factorily  removed.  We  adjourned  on  this  footing 
after  having  been  together  several  hours,  agreeing 
to  meet  again  on  the  fifth  instant;  but  as  it  wTas 
hardly  supposed  by  the  British  Plenipotentiaries 
that  they  would  be  able  at  so  early  a  day  to  see  their 
way  through  all  the  first  difficulties  growing  out  of 
the  plan  I  had  offered,  it  was  agreed  that  we  should 
take  up  the  subject  of  commercial  intercourse  at  our 
meeting  on  the  fifth ;  making  a  pause  for  more  care 
ful  examination  and  reflection  on  the  subject  first 
opened. 

February  3.  Had  an  interview  with  the  Deputies 
from  Greece,  resident  in  London,  Mr.  Orlando,  and 
Mr.  Luriottis.  I  delivered  to  the  latter  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Adams,  Secretary  of  State.  It  was  a  letter  in 
answer  to  one  written  to  the  Secretary,  in  which 
Mr.  Luriottis  had  asked  at  the  hands  of  the  United 
States,  active  aid  to  the  cause  of  Grecian  emancipa 
tion.  In  declining  to  afford  this  aid,  Mr.  Adams,  as 
the  organ  of  the  United  States  Government,  puts  the 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  483 

refusal  on  the  ground  of  constitutional  and  interna 
tional  duty,  not  on  any  sentiment  of  indifference  to 
the  cause  of  Greece,  but  excluding  such  an  infer 
ence  ;  and  I  was  requested  to  accompany  the  delivery 
of  his  answer  with  remarks  and  explanations  of  my 
own,  in  unison,  with  its  spirit — a  duty  which  I  grate 
fully  performed.  Mr.  Bowring,  an  active,  intelligent 
friend  of  the  cause  of  Greece,  in  London,  was  present 
at  the  interview. 

Mr.  Orlando  had  lately  been  President  of  the 
Senate  of  Greece,  and  said  that  he  was  charged  by 
that  body,  to  convey  to  me  its  thanks  for  the  interest 
I  had  shown  last  winter  in  London,  in  the  cause  of 
Grecian  emancipation.  This  had  merely  reference 
to  an  occasion,  when  I  had  publicly  uttered  expres 
sions  of  good  will  to  that  cause  of  suffering  human 
ity  in  a  classic  land, — a  feeling  common  to  Christian 
mankind ;  yet,  in  further  and  over-merited  return  for 
such  expressions,  Mr.  Luriottis  also  delivered  to  me 
from  Prince  Mavrocordato,  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
Grecian  Government,  a  letter  of  personal  thanks. 

February  5.  The  Plenipotentiaries  met  at  the 
office  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  The  protocol  of  the 
last  conference  was  read,  and,  with  some  alterations, 
agreed  to.  Mr.  Huskisson  stated,  that  Mr.  Lack's 
engagements  at  the  Board  of  Trade  would  prevent 
his  attending  to  the  duties  of  Secretary  to  the  Bri- 


484  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

tish  Plenipotentiaries,  and  that  they  had  appointed 
Anthony  St.  John  Baker,  Esquire,  in  his  stead. 

According  to  the  understanding  at  our  last  adjourn 
ment,  I  proceeded  to  open  the  whole  subject  of  com 
mercial  intercourse  between  the  two  nations,  agreed 
to  be  brought  into  the  negotiation.  I  did  so  with  the 
fulness  suggested  by  the  Secretary  of  State's  instruc 
tions,  and  the  necessary  review  of  all  past  negotia 
tions  and  conferences  with  the  British  Government, 
in  which  I  had  myself  borne  a  part.  In  conclusion, 
after  stating  what  appeared  to  me  the  main  facts  and 
principles,  I  offered  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  a 
paper,  which  I  had  drawn  up  and  marked  A,  con 
sisting  of  three  articles.  The  first  two  stated  the 
footing  upon  which  the  United  States  now  desired 
to  place  this  commercial  intercourse,  and  the  third 
provided  for  our  free  navigation  of  the  river  St.  Law 
rence. 

As  explanatory  at  large  of  the  nature  and  grounds 
of  the  latter  claim,  after  having  in  my  verbal  open 
ing  stated,  in  a  general  way,  the  principles  of  public 
law  on  which  it  was  placed,  I  offered  a  paper  marked 
B,  which  I  had  also  prepared,  that  it  might  be  annex 
ed  to  the  protocol. 

To  the  footing  on  which  my  articles  proposed  to 
place  the  West  India  and  colonial  trade,  the  Bri 
tish  Plenipotentiaries  made  strong  objections  at  first 
blush;  yet  said  they  would  give  them  full  consider- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  485 

ation,  in  the  hope  that  something  might  be  made  of 
them  under  their  own  modifications,  after  having 
them  in  hand  for  more  careful  scrutiny. 

The  paper  marked  B,  in  support  of  our  claim  to 
the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  they  appeared 
unwilling  to  receive  in  that  light,  until  they  could 
consult  their  Government,  and  requested  a  delay  of 
their  decision  on  the  point,  until  our  next  meeting. 
The  claim  was  entirely  unexcepted  and  new  to 
them — they  had  not  anticipated  it.  It  was  so  that 
they  expressed  themselves,  and  in  the  strongest 
terms  of  objection  to  the  doctrine  I  advanced.  They 
asked  what  equivalent  I  was  prepared  to  offer  for 
our  claim  to  the  navigation  of  a  river  flowing  through 
a  channel,  both  shores  of  which  were  admitted  to  be 
within  British  territory  and  under  exclusive  British 
jurisdiction?  and  when  I  replied  none,  for  the  reasons 
made  known  in  the  paper  I  had  drawn  up,  they 
manifested  increased  objections  it. 

We  separated  after  a  long  sitting,  the  British 
Plenipotentiaries  saying  that  they  would  give  every 
consideration  to  my  proposals,  and  the  papers  with 
which  I  had  accompanied  them.  The  tenth  of  the 
month  was  appointed  for  our  next  meeting. 

February  8.  Receive  a  note  from  the  British 
Plenipotentiaries  requesting  a  postponement  until 


486  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

the  sixteenth  instant,  of  our  meeting  appointed  for 
the  tenth. 


February  15.  Dined  at  Prince  Polignac's,  the 
French  Ambassador's,  Portland  Place.  It  was  an 
entertainment  given  to  all  the  Foreign  Ambassadors 
and  Ministers  and  most  of  the  Members  of  the  Cabi 
net.  «*#***,  shows  much  desire  to  know  how 
the  negotiation  goes  on ;  and,  especially,  if  we  had 
got  to  the  maritime  questions,  and  what  we  mean  to 
do  upon  them.  I  tell  him  that  we  have  not  got  to 
them;  that  there  will  be  a  great  deal  to  say  when  we 
do,  which  perhaps  other  nations  may  think  impor 
tant;  and  that,  at  a  future  day,  I  can  have  no  objec 
tions  to  resuming  conversation  with  him  on  the  sub 
ject.  He  says  that  there  are  rumors  about  the  ex 
tent  of  our  demands.  I  asked  of  what  nature  ?  He 
does  not  know,  or  draws  back  from  telling ;  and  only 
refers  to  our  principle  of  non-colonization  on  the 
American  continents.  He  asks  if  I  have  understood 
how  France  views  that  principle.  I  answer  in  the 
negative.,  and  express  a  hope  that  France  may  not 
intervene  on  .such  a  principle,  considering  all  the 
circumstances  n<QW  surrounding  it  in  the  hands  of 
the  United  States;  whose  Plenipotentiary  had  to 
meet  the  known  opposition  of  the  whole  British 
Cabinet  to  it,  and  the  probable  influence  of  Russia 


1824.]         COURT  OF  LONDON.  487 

siiperadded.     He  said,  that  his  impression  was,  that 
France  also  had  objected  to  it,  or  would. 

February  16.  The  Plenipotentiaries  met.  The 
protocol  of  the  last  conference  was  agreed  to  and 
signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  gave  no  answers  to 
my  proposals  respecting  commercial  intercourse,  but 
ample  discussions  took  place  upon  them.  They 
stated,  and  reiterated,  the  improbability  of  being  able 
to  agree  to  them  in  their  present  shape,  assigning 
reasons  at  large,  and  asked  if  I  had  no  other  propo 
sals  to  offer.  I  said  none,  to  change  essentially  the 
grounds  of  those  submitted ;  but  added,  that  if  they 
failed,  in  the  end,  to  prove  acceptable,  I  would  glad 
ly  receive  their  counter  proposals  for  transmission  to 
my  Government,  if  unable  previously  to  mould  them 
into  any  thing  myself. 

The  paper  marked  B,  on  the  navigation  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  they  objected  to  inserting  on  the  protocol. 
They  thought  it  too  argumentative  to  be  considered 
within  the  spirit  of  the  right  reserved  by  each  party 
to  annex  written  statements  to  the  protocol ;  saying, 
that  the  right,  if  exercised  in  this  manner,  instead  of 
being  used  as  simply  explanatory  of  oral  statements, 
would  lead  to  elaborate  written  discussions  on  each 
side,  contrary  to  their  understanding  as  to  the  mode 
in  which  the  negotiation  was  to  be  conducted. 


4S8  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

I  replied,  that  I  was  not  tenacious  of  its  being 
annexed  to  the  protocol ;  but  the  claim  which  it  em 
braced,  being  one  of  great  magnitude  to  the  United 
States,  and  new  to  all  past  discussions  between  the 
two  countries,  all  I  desired  was,  that  it  be  received 
as  a  paper  containing  a  general  exposition  of  the 
principles  upon  which  my  Government  rested  the 
claim  for  the  United  States,  and  would  expect  their 
Plenipotentiary  to  defend  it.  In  this  light  they  said 
they  would  receive  it,  as  I  expressed  a  wish  to  that 
effect.*  They  denied,  wholly,  the  right  we  claimed ; 
saying  that  the  principles  of  public  law  were  against 
it,  and  the  practice  of  nations;  though  it  was  not 
their  purpose,  at  the  present  moment,  to  go  into  the 
argument,  or  produce  their  authorities  in  answer  to 
the  contents  of  the  paper  I  had  drawn  up.  There 
was  much  of  earnestness  on  both  sides,  the  Plenipo 
tentiaries  manifesting  equal  confidence  in  the  assert 
ed  rights  of  their  respective  nations  as  regarded  the 
navigation  of  this  river.  Once  the  British  Plenipo 
tentiaries  said,  "  You  claim  to  shut  us  out  from  the 
Columbia  river,  yet  claim  to  navigate  the  St.  Law 
rence  through  British  territory  on  both  sides."  I 
replied,  that  the  two  cases  were  entirely  dissimilar, 
as  I  would  be  prepared  to  show  at  the  proper  point 

*  See  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Protocols,  when  the  negotiation  had 
reached  those  stages. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  489 

of  the  negotiation.     This  is  a  brief  notice  of  what 
passed  at  the  conference  on  this  head. 

We  next  resumed  the  subject  of  the  Slave  Trade. 
On  this  subject  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  said 
that  they  were  not  finally  prepared  to  submit  their 
alterations  and  modifications  of  my  plan,  not  having 
yet  obtained  the  official  opinions  of  their  law  officers 
on  several  parts  of  the  plan,  as  they  now  hoped  soon 
to  do.  But  with  this  preliminary  remark,  they  put 
into  my  hands,  informally,  a  paper  which  they  had 
drawn  up,  embracing  their  alterations  and  modifica 
tions  ;  which  paper  they  requested  I  would  take  into 
consideration,  in  order  that,  should  the  opinions  of 
their  law  officers  be  found  in  the  end  to  sanction  it, 
time  might  thus  be  saved.  I  received  their  paper 
with  this  understanding. 

Our  sitting  was  again  a  protracted  one,  and  we 
adjourned  without  specifying  a  day  for  the  next 
meeting,  as  tbe  British  Plenipotentiaries  could  not, 
under  their  present  circumstances,  fix  upon  it ;  but 
they  hoped  it  would  be  soon,  and  they  would  give 
me  two  days  notice  beforehand,  that  the  time  might 
be  made  to  suit  both  parties. 

February  28.  Dined  at  the  Marquis  of  Lans- 
downe's,  where  I  met  Admiral  Sir  Edward  Cod  ring- 
ton.  He  told  me  that  he  was  at  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  and  related  some  particulars  of  it.  He 


490  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

knew  Mr.  Edward  Livingston,  one  of  General  Jack 
son's  aid's,  and  since,  our  Minister  to  France. 
Coming  on  board  the  fleet  on  business  from  General 

o 

Jackson,  he  was  detained  several  days  by  Admiral 
Cockburn,  and  carried  to  Mobile.  Sir  Edward  re 
marked,  that  his  conversation  and  whole  bearing, 
made  a  highly  favorable  impression  on  the  British 
officers ;  of  which  all  would  be  sure  who  knew  Mr. 
Livingston,  his  talents,  and  his  train  of  gentlemanly 
qualities. 

February  29.  Dined  at  the  Duke  of  Wellington's. 
We  had  several  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  and  their 
ladies,  my  wife  among  the  latter,  and  other  com 
pany.  Of  the  number  was  Mr.  Secretary  Canning, 
with  whom  I  conversed.  He  was  very  cordial ;  pro 
bably  the  more  so,  from  the  points  of  difference 
which  seem  to  be  unfolding  themselves  in  the  nego 
tiation;  of  which,  however,  we  did  not  .speak  on  this 
occasion. 

The  Duke's  sideboard  was  full  of  lustre.  The 
most  prominent  piece  of  plate  upon  it,  this  evening, 
was  the  celebrated  shield,  a  present  to  him  from  the 
city  of  London.  It  is  of  solid  gold.  On  it  are  repre 
sented,  in  base  relief,  and  in  alto,  the  most  important 
of  his  victories.  The  cost  of  this  magnificent  present 
was  stated  to  me,  by  one  of  the  company,  to  have 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  491 

been  fifteen  thousand  pounds  sterling.     Virgil,  in 
the  first  book  of  the  Eneid,  has  almost  described  it: 

On  Tyrian  carpets,  richly  wrought,  they  dine, 
With  loads  of  massy  plate,  the  sideboards  shine ; 
And  antique  vases,  all  of  gold  embossed, 
(The  gold  itself  inferior  to  the  cost 
Of  curious  work)  where  on  the  sides  were  seen, 
The  fights  and  figures  of  illustrious  men, 
From  their  first  founder  to  the  present  Queen. 

March  6.  Dined  at  Mr.  Peel's,  Home  Secretary 
of  State  since  the  resignation  of  Lord  Sid  mouth. 
We  had  nearly  all  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  and  other 
guests.  In  the  table  ornaments,  you  saw  the 
alliance  of  taste  with  wealth.  When  Mr.  Adams 
returned  to  Washington,  in  1817,  from  the  English 
mission,  he  was  accustomed  to  say,  speaking  of  the 
public  men  of  England,  that  for  extensive  educa 
tion  and  knowledge,  combined  with  superior  endow 
ments  and  effective  oratory,  he  regarded  Mr.  Peel  as 
first  amongst  those  then  advancing  into  renown — an 
opinion  remarkably  sustained  by  the  result;  and  all 
who  have  read  the  speech  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  on  his 
inauguration  into  the  office  of  Lord  Rector  of  the 
University  of  Glasgow  in  1837,  may  see  in  it,  that 
his  mind  is  not  less  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  all  that  is  chaste  and  elegant  in  literature, 
than  stored  with  those  solid  and  manifold  acquire 
ments  of  the  statesman,  which  have  given  him,  as 
Premier  of  England,  a  mastery  over  public  affairs 


492  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

in  their  largest  range  and  combinations.  This — as  a 
reminiscence  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
I  return  to  my  proper  date. 

The  conversation  at  table  had,  as  one  topic,  the 
reforms  in  the  law,  a  subject  which  Parliament  had 
taken  up,  and  with  which  Mr.  Peel  has  had  so  much 
to  do.  In  alluding  to  it  this  evening,  his  incidental 
and  brief  remarks  told  the  listener  how  able  he  was  to 
look  at  the  law  as  a  science,  through  the  lights  of 
his  general  reading  in  that  and  other  fields;  and 
therefore  qualified  to  take  hold  of  it  with  an  enlight 
ened  as  well  as  reforming  hand,  though  no  profes 
sional  man. 

Prince  Polignac,  French  Ambassador,  was  of 
the  company.  While  in  the  drawing  rooms  after 
dinner,  I  had  conversation  with  him  on  the  rela 
tions  between  France  and  the  United  States.  It 
had  not  proceeded  far,  when  he  alluded  to  Lafay 
ette's  intended  visit  to  the  United  States,  and  in  a 
tone  of  complaint;  friendly,  indeed,  but  decided. 
What  caused  it  to  be  complained  of,  I  asked?  how 
was  this  possible?  "It  was  the  invitation  given  to 
him  by  our  Government,  and  offer  to  send  a  frigate 
over  to  France  to  convey  him  to  our  shores;" — these 
things  it  was,  he  said,  which,  considering  the  rela 
tions  Fayette  held  to  the  present  Government  of 
France,  gave  him  pain,  and  would  pain  others  in 
France.  I  endeavored  to  remove  this  kind  of  sen- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  493 

sibility  in  him,  by  the  simple  remark,  that  I  thought 
all  France  ought  to  regard  the  visit  in  a  light  pre 
cisely  the  reverse;  for  that  if  it  were  possible,  by  any 
single  incident,  beyond  any  other  imaginable,  to  re 
vive  in  the  United  States  the  ancient  attachment  to 
Bourbon  France,  it  would  be  this  very  visit  of  Fay- 
ette;  whose  presence  once  more  among  us,  after  so 
long  an  interval,  would  almost  rekindle  the  enthu 
siasm  of  the  Revolution,  recall  Washington  to  us, 
whose  favorite  Fayette  was,  and  the  times  when 
French  hearts  and  arms  were  united  with  our  own 
during  our  glorious  revolution,  while  a  Bourbon 
filled  the  throne. 

March  7.  Prince  Polignac  visits  me.  He  resumes 
the  topic  of  yesterday  at  Mr.  Peel's,  urging  anew  his 
friendly  complaint;  whilst  I  enlarged  upon  the  re 
pelling  and  soothing  view  of  it,  held  up  to  him  yester 
day — but  probably  with  as  little  success. 

All  may  do  homage  to  the  consistent  devotion  of 
such  a  man  as  Prince  Polignac,  to  his  Sovereign, 
and  sympathize  with  him  while  a  prisoner  in  Ham 
Castle ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  regard  in  the  same  light, 
the  clearness  of  his  understanding. 

I  receive  to-day  a  note  from  the  British  Plenipo 
tentiaries,  proposing  the  ninth  instant,  for  our  next 
meeting,  and  reply  that  it  will  suit  me. 


494  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

March  9.  The  Plenipotentiaries  met.  The  pro 
tocol  of  the  last  meeting  was  read  over,  and  agreed 
upon. 

The  opinions  of  the  law  officers  having  sanctioned 
the  principles  and  modifications  which  the  British 
Plenipotentiaries  had  introduced  into  my  projet  on 
the  Slave  Trade,  and  which  in  fact  they  embodied 
in  the  form  of  a  counter-projet  of  a  convention  of  ten 
articles,  we  proceeded  to  the  consideration  and  dis 
cussion  of  them  at  large.  The  discussions  were  con 
fined  to  the  parts  which  I  thought  objectionable,  and 
particularly  to  the  passage  in  their  first  article, 
offered  as  a  substitute  for  my  fourth  article,  relating 
to  convoy ;  and  to  that  in  their  tenth  article,  in  lieu 
of  the  passage  in  my  ninth,  by  which  they  aim  at 
retaining  all  their  former  alleged  rights  of  search, 
not  conceded  under  the  proposed  convention.  The 
British  Plenipotentiaries  earnestly  insisted  upon  the 
exclusion  of  my  article  relating  to  convoy,  saying 
that  they  would  be  embarrassed  by  it,  if  retained ; 
as  in  their  treaties  with  other  Powders,  stipulations 
had  been  entered  into  on  this  point,  at  variance  with 
those  I  offered.  To  this  I  replied,  that  the  stipula 
tions  in  those  treaties,  were  altogether  objectionable 
in  the  eyes  of  my  Government,  and  could  not,  under 
any  circumstances,  be  assented  to.  I  asked,  would 
the  British  Government  give  instructions  to  its  naval 
officers  never  to  stop  or  detain  our  vessels  sailing 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  495 

under  convoy,  on  the  plea  of  looking  for  slaves,  sup 
posing  no  prohibitory  article  inserted  ?  The  British 
Plenipotentiaries  answered  in  the  affirmative.  Why 
not  then,  I  remarked,  insert  the  article,  and  thus  put 
it  on  the  footing  of  an  international  stipulation  ?  The 
conference  lasted  a  long  time,  but  was  productive  of 
no  results.  We  adjourned  to  meet  on  the  eleventh 
instant. 

March  11.  The  Plenipotentiaries  met,  according 
to  adjournment.  Further  and  full  discussions  took 
place  on  the  Slave  Trade  question,  which  ended  in 
our  finally  settling  all  the  articles  necessary  to  the 
convention.  I  consented  to  renounce  the  words  in 
my  fourth  article  relative  to  convoy,  on  their  essen 
tial  meaning  being  retained  in  the  first  article  of  the 
British  projet;  and  on  the  other  parts  of  their  arti 
cle  relative  to  convoy,  being  entirely  expunged. 
Respecting  those  parts  of  the  tenth  article  of  the 
British  projet  to  which  I  had  objected,  such  erasures 
and  additions  were  made,  as,  in  the  end,  reconciled 
both  parties.  We  adjourned  to  meet  on  the  thir 
teenth. 

March  13.  The  Plenipotentiaries  met.  Full  dis 
cussions  having  now  been  had  on  the  subject  of  the 
Slave  Trade,  and  every  thing  agreed  upon  by  the 
Plenipotentiaries  on  each  side,  a  convention  for  the 


496  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

purpose  of  more  effectually  putting  down  the  Trade 
by  the  cooperating  naval  efforts  of  both  nations,  was 
this  day  signed  and  executed  in  due  form,  subject  to 
the  ratification  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

March  15.  Under  this  date,  I  transmit  the  con 
vention  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  with  a  dispatch 
giving  an  account  of  all  the  discussions  which  led  to 
its  conclusion. 

I  stated,  that  I  had  offered  in  the  first  instance  to 
the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  the  projet  enclosed  to 
me,  precisely  in  the  form  in  which  I  had  received  it. 
That  I  considered  the  essential  principles  of  it  to  be ; 
first,  that  England  wras  to  declare  the  Slave  Trade 
piracy,  as  the  United  States  had  already  done. 
2.  That  the  vessel  captured  on  suspicion  of  being  a 
slave  trader,  by  any  of  the  public  ships  designated 
for  that  purpose  from  the  navy  of  the  two  Powers, 
was  to  be  sent  for  adjudication  to  the  country  to 
which  she  belonged,  and  never,  if  an  American  ves 
sel,  be  tried  by  British  tribunals;  we,  on  the  other 
hand,  not  claiming  to  try  British  vessels  before  our 
tribunals.  3.  That  no  individual  belonging  to  the 
crew,  was  ever,  on  any  pretext,  to  be  taken  out  of  the 
accused  vessel.  4.  That  the  capturing  officer  should 
be  laid  under  the  most  effective  responsibility  for  his 
conduct  in  all  respects.  5.  That  no  merchant  vessel 
under  the  protection,  or  in  the  presence  of  a  ship  of 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  497 

war,  was  ever,  under  any  circumstances,  to  be  visit 
ed  by  a  ship  of  war  of  the  other  nation. 

I  stated  that  these  essential  principles t  were  all 
secured  by  the  convention ;  although,  in  the  progress 
of  the  negotiation,  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  had 
objected  so  strongly  to  some  of  them,  that  the  con 
vention  had  well  nigh  fallen  through  under  their 
objections;  that  if  in  the  details  necessary  to  give 
validity  to  these  cardinal  principles,  I  had,  in  some 
instances,  yielded  up  my  own  phraseology  in  favor 
of  theirs,  and  in  some  other  respects  at  last  acceded 
to  their  views  on  points  which  I  did  not  deem  essen 
tial,  and  where  their  argument  seemed  entitled  to 
attention,  they  still  reminded  me  that  the  preponder 
ance  of  concession  was  largely  on  the  British  side, 
taking  the  convention  as  a  whole. 

My  dispatch  was  sufficiently  full  on  all  the  points ; 
but  I  here  make  no  other  references  to  it  than  the 
above,  as  embracing  condensed  allusions  to  the  parts 
most  material.  The  documents  of  the  negotiation, 
as  well  as  the  convention  itself,  have  been  long  since 
published;  but  as  the  latter  fell  through  from  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  having  annexed  to  the 
ratification  of  it,  modifications  and  exceptions  which, 
in  the  end,  did  not  prove  acceptable  to  England,  I 
do  not  think  it  necessary  to  insert  in  this  work  either 
the  documents  or  convention.  The  less,  as  there  is 

42* 


498  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1824. 

now  an  existing  arrangement  between  the  two  Gov 
ernments  for  naval  cooperation  with  a  view  to  the 
suppression  of  the  Slave  Trade,  in  the  eighth  article 
of  the  treaty  of  Washington  of  August  1842,  to 
which  I  have  already  referred  in  this  volume. 

In  ratifying  the  convention,  the  Senate  excepted 
from  its  provisions,  the  second  article,  and  a  portion 
of  the  seventh.  These  were  introduced  by  the  Bri 
tish  into  their  projet,  and  I  finally  gave  my  assent  to 
them  in  the  progress  of  the  discussions.  They  con 
sisted  in  the  opinion  of  my  Government,  of  provi 
sions  unessential  to  the  great  objects  of  the  conven 
tion,  and  need  not  now  be  stated,  as  England  herself 
ultimately  yielded  them;  and  would  have  joined  in 
the  ratification  of  the  convention,  although  the  Sen 
ate  had  expunged  them. 

But  the  striking  out  of  a  provision  from  ihejirst 
article,  was  a  measure  which  proved  fatal  to  the 
instrument  in  the  eyes  of  England. 

That  article  commenced  thus:  "  The  commanders 
and  commissioned  officers  of  each  of  the  two  high 
contracting  parties,  duly  authorized,  under  the  regu 
lations  and  instructions  of  their  respective  Govern 
ments,  to  cruise  on  the  coasts  of  Africa,  of  America, 
and  of  the  West  Indies,  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Slave  Trade,  shall  be  empowered,  under  the  condi 
tions,  limitations,  and  restrictions  hereinafter  speci 
fied,"  &c.  &c. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  499 

The  Senate  struck  from  this  article  the  words  "  of 
America" 

With  the  above  exceptions,  the  convention  received 
the  full  ratification  of  the  Senate ;  that  body  simply 
adding  a  clause  by  which  each  party  was  to  be  left 
at  liberty  to  renounce  the  convention,  on  giving  six 
months  notice  to  the  other ;  to  which  England  had 
no  objection. 

The  fatally  objectionable  words  in  the  first  article, 
were  in  the  projet  I  first  submitted,  prepared  at 
Washington.  In  striking  them  out,  the  Senate 
probably  had  in  view  the  Coast  of  the  United  States; 
though  the  words  embraced  all  South  America,  with 
the  Coast  of  Brazil.  But  on  no  part  of  the  coast  of 
the  United  States,  was  there  any  probability  that 
slave  trading  vessels  would  ever  be  found,  unless 
within  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  so  that  the  necessity 
for  the  guarded  exercise  of  the  authority  to  capture, 
would  have  been  no  greater,  than  upon,  or  proxi 
mate  to,  the  coast  of  Europe. 

Before  the  convention  finally  fell  to  the  ground, 
Mr.  Canning  sounded  me  as  to  the  plan  of  a  quali 
fied  restoration  of  the  words  struck  from  the  first 
article,  so  as  to  restrict  the  right  of  cruising  to  the 
Southern  coast  of  the  United  States,  as  the  part 
alone  where  slavery  was  found.  I  replied  at  once, 
that  it  would  be  decidedly  objectionable,  as  carrying 
an  appearance  I  was  sure  he  could  not  intend,  of  our 


500  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

being  a  divided  nation.  He  rejoined,  that  he  could 
have  no  such  thought,  having  only  thrown  out  the 
suggestion  in  his  anxiety  to  save  the  convention 
from  destruction. 

England  had  no  solid  foundation  for  complaint  at 
the  refusal  of  the  Senate  to  ratify  the  convention  as 
signed  in  London.  She  knew  it  to  be  a  fundamen 
tal  provision  of  our  constitution,  that  no  treaty  was 
finally  valid  until  it  receives  the  sanction  of  that 
body.  My  full  power  to  negotiate,  a  copy  of  which 
her  Plenipotentiaries  were  in  possession  of,  stated 
that  whatever  treaty  or  convention  I  concluded,  was 
to  be  transmitted  to  the  President  for  his  final  ratifi 
cation,  "  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States" 

Yet,  it  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  she  was  disap 
pointed  at  the  result:  First,  because  the  words  which 
the  Senate  struck  from  the  first  article,  and  which 
alone,  in  the  end,  had  been  the  means  of  destroying 
the  convention,  were  introduced  in  our  own  projet, 
prepared  under  the  eye  of  the  executive  government 
of  the  United  States  at  Washington.  To  this  it  was 
answered  that  the  Senate  had  differed  from  the  Pre 
sident;  a  difference  not  to  have  been  foreknown,  and 
no  more  than  a  natural  occurrence  under  our  constitu 
tional  forms,  although  it  may  not  have  been  frequent 
in  the  case  of  treaties.  And,  secondly,  because  we  had 
made  it  a  sine  qua  non  to  entering  upon  the  negotia- 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  501 

tion,  that  England  should  declare  the  Slave  Trade 
piracy  by  act  of  Parliament;  which  she  accordingly 
did.  To  this  we  answered,  that  whatever  appearance 
of  concession  beforehand,  this  might  carry,  England 
had  an  independent  moral  ground  on  which  to  rest 
her  act  of  Parliament,  in  the  acknowledged  enormity 
of  the  offence  which  it  denounced  as  piracy;  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  having  also  previously 
branded  it  with  the  same  guilt. 

I  add,  in  conclusion,  on  this  head  of  the  general 
negotiation,  that  President  Monroe  was  prepared  to 
have  ratified  the  convention  exactly  as  I  had  signed 
it  in  London;  of  which  I  informed  the  British  Gov 
ernment  ;  and  he  was  pleased  to  convey  to  me,  in 
the  same  dispatch  in  which  this  was  declared,  (one 
from  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  twenty-ninth  of 
May,  1824,)  his  approbation  of  the  course  I  had  pur 
sued  in  the  negotiation  of  it. 


502  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  NEGOTIATION  PROCEEDS  UNDER  ITS  OTHER  HEADS. 
CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THESE,  INCLUDING  UNSETTLED 
MARITIME  QUESTIONS PRIVATEERING IMPRESS 
MENT — AND  THE  OREGON  QUESTION.  FINAL  RE 
PORT  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
ON  THE  COURSE  AND  TERMINATION  OF  THE  WHOLE 
NEGOTIATION.  OREGON  QUESTION  THEN  FIRST  DIS 
CUSSED  AT  LARGE  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  NATIONS. 
CONFLICTING  VIEWS  OF  EACH  STATED. 

IN  the  succinct,  but  I  would  hope  intelligible, 
account,  given  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  of  the  fate 
of  the  Slave  Trade  Convention,  only  one  subject  of 
a  complicated  negotiation  was  disposed  of.  Six 
others  remained,  all  of  importance  to  the  two 
countries,  and  some  involving  great  interests  of 
humanity  and  policy  not  less  dear  and  permanent, 
and  wider  in  scope,  than  those  involved  in  the  Slave 
Trade.  To  treat  of  such  subjects  with  the  neces 
sary  fullness  of  investigation,  under  all  other  calls 
upon  the  time  of  the  British  negotiators  and  my 
own,  (for  the  current  business  of  the  Legation  went 
on,)  occupied  the  remainder  of  the  spring  and  two 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  503 

months  of  the  summer;  the  final  conferences  run 
ning  into  the  closing  days  of  July.  Twenty-six 
formal  protocols  were  drawn  up ;  and  the  intervals 
between  the  meetings  at  which  the  matter  of  them 
was  canvassed  and  settled  as  authentic  records  of 
the  negotiation,  did  not  pass  without  toil  on  the  part 
of  the  negotiators. 

I  made  detached  reports  from  time  to  time  of  its 
progress,  having  kept  full  minutes  of  every  thing ; 
but  waited  until  its  close  for  the  transmission  of  a 
connected  report  of  the  whole,  condensed  and 
arranged  from  those  minutes  in  ways  which  aimed 
at  making  the  whole  intelligible  under  one  view. 
That  report  was  dated  on  the  twelfth  of  August, 
1824,  and  was  published  by  Congress.  Having 
already  given  partial  extracts  from  some  of  these 
minutes  serving  to  show  the  spirit  in  which  the 
negotiation  on  some  of  its  points  opened,  and  the 
forms  under  which  it  moved  along,  I  now  design  to 
depart  from  that  mode ;  which,  if  continued,  and  the 
minutes  were  given  in  full,  might  become  too  monoto 
nous  and  tedious.  Instead  of  that  plan,  I  will  insert  the 
final  report  itself;  with  which  document,  followed  by 
its  essential  adjuncts,  the  protocols,  and  a  memoran 
dum  or  two,  made  afterwards,  this  volume  will  close. 

The  negotiation  was  one  of  such  extent,  and  em 
braced  subjects  of  such  magnitude,  that  its  connected 
history  can  scarcely  be  without  some  share  of  inte- 


504  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

rest;  and  perhaps  its  exhibition  in  these  pages  may 
invest  it  with  some  chance  of  being  more  known, 
than  if  left  to  be  ascertained  from  separate,  and 
numerous  official  documents,  piled  away  among  the 
records  of  our  Government;  oftentimes,  too,  needing 
elucidation  which  the  documents  themselves  do  not 
afford.  Some  of  the  subjects  w^ere  founded  in  the 
most  expanded  views  and  lofty  patriotism.  My  share 
in  this  negotiation,  was  simply  that  of  having  aimed 
at  fulfilling  faithfully  the  instructions  under  which  I 
acted,  and  I  seek  no  other  merit ;  but  let  its  history 
duly  speak  to  all  American  citizens,  the  merit  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  at  that  epoch.  Let 
its  history  convey  the  just  award  to  that  virtuous 
and  honorable  man,  pure  patriot,  and  wise  chief 
magistrate,  James  Monroe;  whose  services  and  worth, 
too  much  overlooked,  ought  to  be  freshened  in  the 
eyes  of  his  country.  A  noble-minded  man  he  was, 
without  a  particle  of  selfishness  or  ill-directed  ambi 
tion;  the  constant  associate  and  friend  of  Madison 
and  Jefferson,  and  identified  in  his  public  principles 
and  policy  with  both.  A  man  of  Roman  mould, 
honest,  fearless,  and  magnanimous ;  who,  having  shed 
his  blood  in  the  war  of  the  revolution,  and  risked  it 
in  that  of  1812,  the  official  prop  of  which  he  was,  at 
the  darkest  crisis  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration, 
sought,  with  returning  peace,  to  establish  on  the 
broadest  foundations  the  relations  of  peace,  and  lessen 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  505 

the  calamities  of  future  wars,  when  wars  were  to 
come.  Let  the  just  award  be  given  to  his  Secre 
tary  of  State,  Mr.  Adams;  whose  extraordinary 
endowments  and  fervent  patriotism,  are  indelibly 
stamped  upon  the  instructions  I  received.  I  do 
not  republish  them,  as  they  would  swell  too  much 
the  bulk  of  this  volume;  but  their  great  and  enlarged 
ends  under  some  views,  and  profound  sagacity  for 
his  country's  interests  under  others,  will  be  suffi 
ciently  collected,  in  part  at  least,  from  my  report. 

It  will  be  seen,  that  the  whole  subject  of  our  com 
mercial  intercourse  with  the  Colonial  Empire  of 
Britain,  insular  and  continental,  in  this  hemisphere, 
which  still  remains  an  unsettled  subject,  has  never 
been  put  on  better  foundations  for  the  United  States, 
than  were  then  contemplated;  and  that  our  trade 
and  tonnage,  are  in  danger  of  suffering,  whenever 
those  foundations  are  lost  sight  of. 

It  will  be  seen,  in  connexion  with  this  subject, 
what  large  and  statesman-like  views  wrere  taken  of 
our  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  then 
becoming  an  international  question  of  great  magni 
tude;  though  since  superseded  by  artificial  water 
highways  of  our  owrn,  and  other  outlets  and  modes 
of  transportation  for  the  teeming  productions  of  our 
soil  and  industry,  in  those  vast  portions  of  the  Union 
for  which  the  St.  Lawrence,  at  that  era,  was  the 
natural  outlet  to  the  ocean.  I  republish  neither  the 

43 


506  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

American  nor  British  argument  in  detail  on  this 
broad  question ;  but  the  nature  of  it  will  be  seen 
from  my  Report,  and  cannot  be  without  historical 
interest,  any  more  than  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
taken  up  and  urged,  when  believed  to  be  advancing 
to  practical  importance,  can  be  without  its  bearing 
upon  the  vigilant  patriotism  and  just  fame  of  Mr. 
Monroe  and  Mr.  Adams. 

It  will  be  seen  how  prophetic,  under  some  aspects, 
were  the  views  taken  of  the  North  Eastern  Boun 
dary  question,  at  that  time;  since  settled  by  the 
treaty  of  Washington  of  1842,  after  it  had  gone  near 
to  producing  a  war  between  the  two  nations. 

It  will  be  seen,  under  the  head  of  "  Maritime 
Questions,"  a  subject  of  the  deepest  international 
interest,  and  still  altogether  unsettled  throughout 
nearly  the  whole  field  of  belligerent  and  neutral 
rights  as  between  the  two  nations,  what  was  then 
said.  And,  most  especially,  will  it  be  seen,  how  ex 
panded  and  beneficent,  looking  to  the  whole  family 
of  nations,  were  some  of  the  proposals  of  the  United 
States.  It  will  be  seen,  how  this  enlightened  Amer 
ican  President,  holding  in  trust,  and  exercising 
under  a  high  estimate  of  political  and  moral  duty, 
the  executive  power  of  the  second  maritime  nation  of 
the  world,  authorized  and  directed  me  to  propose  to 
the  first  maritime  nation  of  the  world,  to  abolish  not 
merely  Privateering,  BUT  ALL  PRIVATE  WAR  UPON 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  507 

THE  OCEAN  i  in  other  words,  that  no  public  ship  of 
either  nation,  should  thenceforth,  when  war  came 
on,  capture  a  merchant  vessel  of  the  other,  or  other 
wise  plunder  private  property;  but  confine  belli 
gerent  operations  upon  the  ocean  exclusively  to  the 
ships  of  war  of  each  nation  !  Thus,  this  rising  Re 
public,  so  often  misrepresented  and  misunderstood, 
would  have  led  the  way,  had  her  proposals  been 
accepted,  to  this  great  consummation  of  benevolence 
and  humanity;  earning  the  gratitude  of  mankind,  in 
present  and  future  ages,  by  the  most  signal  triumph 
which  civilization  in  modern  times  would  have  had 
over  barbarism,  still  left  in  the  legal  code  of  nations, 
as  long  as  the  rapacious  and  bloody  custom  of  Priva 
teering  has  the  sanction  of  that  code.  Nor  must  it 
be  forgotten,  that  in  making  this  great  proposal,  this 
Republic,  under  her  noble-minded  President  Mon 
roe,  was  ready  to  sacrifice  to  a  moral  principle,  all 
base  and  sordid  gains ;  for  whilst  the  national  ships 
of  England  were  in  overpowering  number  to  her 
own,  privateering  was  an  arm  with  which  she  was 
fully  able  to  cope  with  England,  under  all  the  bad 
temptations  to  its  use,  which  the  rich  commerce  of 
England  affords,  and  which  her  convoys  have  never 
been  able  to  shelter  from,  the  daring  enterprise  and 
swift  wings  of  American  Privateers. 

It  will  be  distinctly  seen  also,  what  passed  on  the 
Oregon  Question  in  this  negotiation,  in  addition  to 


508  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

the  disclosures  already  given  at  its  opening  stages. 
This  is  a  question  not  only  still  undecided,  but,  at 
the  present  time,  intensely  engaging  attention  in 
both  countries,  and  the  whole  past  history  of  which 
cannot  therefore  be  without  interest.  It  will  be  seen, 
that  it  was  only  then  that  the  two  countries,  for  the 
first  time,  fully  opened  themselves  to  each  other 
upon  this  question  of  territorial  limits. 

It  will  be  seen  how  wide  asunder  were  their  opin 
ions,  arguments,  and  expectations;  thence  suggest 
ing  to  each,  the  wisdom  of  giving  a  respectful  con 
sideration  to  each  other's  convictions ;  for  I  cannot 
pass  this  subject  over  without  saying,  that,  thoroughly 
convinced  as  I  was,  and  have  ever  remained,  of  the 
superiority  of  our  title,  and  sincerely  as  I  strove  to 
demonstrate  it,  I  believe  that  the  British  Plenipoten 
tiaries  were  as  sincerely  satisfied  that  theirs  was  best, 
to  as  much  as  they  claimed.  How  could  the  Pleni 
potentiary  of  a  civilized  and  enlightened  Nation, 
meet,  face  to  face  in  discussion,  the  Plenipotentiaries 
of  another  great  Nation ;  men  possessing  and  deserv 
ing  the  confidence  of  that  Nation;  men  of  integrity, 
of  truth,  of  intelligence ;  and,  day  by  day,  witness  the 
earnest  endeavors,  and  calm  yet  confident  tone,  with 
which  they  urged  what  they  believed  to  be  the  rights 
of  that  Nation ;  how  could  he  impeach  and  deny  the 
sincerity  of  such  Plenipotentiaries — without  exposing 
his  own  conduct  to  be  dealt  with  in  the  same  way? 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  509 

In  believing  therefore,  that  the  British  Plenipotenti 
aries  spoke  sincerely  what  they  thought,  and  acted 
up  to  the  duty  which  bound  them  to  their  country, 
I  merely  render  them  the  simple  justice  due  from 
man  to  man,  and  most  especially  due  from  nation  to 
nation,  where  decided  differences  of  opinion  exist. 
Else,  we  break  down  all  barriers  of  mutual  respect 
in  the  world:  else,  we  appeal  at  once  to  the  sword, 
instead  of  pausing  for  those  other  modes  of  adjust 
ment  wrhich  the  wisdom,  the  humanity,  and  the  poli 
cy  of  civilized  mankind  in  all  ages,  have  prescribed. 

Other  subjects  came  into  the  negotiation  which,  if 
secondary  in  importance  to  some  of  the  foregoing, 
belong  to  the  history  of  our  foreign  relations,  and  are 
not  unworthy  to  be  known. 

Many  and  anxious  were  the  hours  devoted  to  this 
negotiation.  Its  long  road  was  often  rugged.  The 
discussions  were  between  two  Nations,  neither  of 
which,  from  the  characteristics  of  a  common  race,  is 
quick  to  yield ;  yet,  there  was  always  this  of  conso 
lation — that  the  ruggedness  of  the  road,  never  inter 
rupted  the  personal  harmony  of  the  negotiators,  one 
of  whom,  I  may  here  add,  has  since  gone  to  his  great 
account  by  a  sudden  and  tragical  end.*  The  ques- 

*  Mr.  Huskisson  was  killed  by  an  accident  at  the  ceremony  of  opening 
the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Rail  Road;  a  public  work  of  which  he  was 
the  great  champion  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  had  urged  successfully 
through,  over  much  early  opposition. 

43* 


510  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

tions  all  had  reference  to  the  past  or  future.  No 
actual  suffering,  no  existing  irritations  of  practice, 
were  then  upon  us,  in  connexion  with  any  of  them. 
This  was  favorable  to  their  calm  consideration  and 
discussion.  Social  and  hospitable  intercourse  was 
maintained  between  the  Plenipotentiaries,  and  would 
often  agreeably  step  in,  after  we  had  been  dwelling 
upon  protocols  and  other  points,  hard  to  be  arranged 
in  the  midst  of  antagonistic  opinions  and  arguments, 
and  under  responsibilities  felt  equally  and  anxiously 
on  both  sides.  Never  was  this  kind  of  intercourse 
more  agreeable  or  refreshing,  than  when  the  scene 
of  it  was  Gloucester  Lodge. 

Without  further  remark,  I  proceed  to  the  insertion 
of  the  report  of  which  I  have  been  speaking. 

No.  10. 

LONDON,  August  I2th,  IS24. 

SIR:  My  letter  of  the  2d  of  this  month  will  have  informed 
you  that  the  negotiations  in  which  I  had  so  long  been  en 
gaged  with  this  Government  had  come  to  a  close,  but  with 
out  any  treaty,  or  other  arrangement,  having  been  concluded, 
on  any  of  the  subjects  which  had  been  given  in  charge  to 
me.  This  is  a  result  which  I  should  lament  the  more,  did 
I  not  endeavor  to  reconcile  myself  to  it  by  the  reflection, 
that  I  have  earnestly,  though  fruitlessly,  striven  to  render  it 
more  auspicious,  and  by  the  consideration,  far  more  import 
ant,  that,  as  several  of  the  subjects  discussed  have  been  both 
of  novelty  and  magnitude  between  the  two  Nations,  my 
Government  will  have  the  opportunity  of  being  put  in  more 
full  and  accurate  possession  of  the  sentiments  of  this  Gov- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  511 

ernment,  prior  to  the  conclusion,  or  to  the  proposal  anew, 
of  any  definite  or  final  stipulations. 

The  task  of  reporting  to  you  for  the  information  of  the 
President,  the  whole  progress  of  the  negotiation,  now  de 
volves  upon  me.  I  enter  upon  it  in  the  anxious  hope  that, 
whilst  shunning  a  prolixity  that  might  fatigue,  I  may  never 
theless  omit  nothing  necessary  to  a  full  understanding  of  all 
that  has  passed.  I  console  myself  with  the  recollection, 
that  the  protocols  and  other  papers  which  will  be  transmitted 
to  you,  will  mainly  delineate  every  material  occurrence. 
From  these  may  be  learned  all  the  formal  proposals  that 
have  been  made  on  the  one  side  or  on  the  other;  but  the 
grounds  of  them,  the  discussions  by  which  they  were  sus 
tained  or  opposed,  together  with  various  explanations  which 
the  written  memorials  of  the  negotiation,  wearing  for  the 
most  part  the  character  of  abstracts  only,  do  not  indicate, 
these  it  becomes  my  duty  to  make  you  also  acquainted  with 
in  every  essential  particular.  It  must  be  my  purpose  to 
fulfil  this  duty  in  the  course  of  the  present  dispatch. 

It  was  my  first  intention  to  have  made  my  report  to  you 
in  the  shape  of  separate  communications,  allotting  a  distinct 
one  to  each  subject,  that  I  might  be  able  to  follow  in  this 
respect  the  example  of  your  instructions  to  me.  But  after 
the  discussions  were  opened,  it  was  often  found  impractica 
ble  to  keep  the  subjects  distinct.  More  than  one  subject,  or 
branches  of  more  than  one,  would  sometimes  engage  our 
conferences  on  the  same  day,  superinducing  the  necessity  of 
mixing  them  up  in  one  and  the  same  protocol.  For  this 
reason,  and  because  also  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  in 
some  instances  established  a  connexion  between  subjects 
where,  as  I  thought,  none  regularly  had  place,  and  so  treat 
ed  them  in  our  records  in  the  manner  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  describe,  it  has  appeared  to  me  most  conducive  to  good 
order  to  present  the  whole  under  one  view.  If  this  unity 


512  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

in  my  report  would  not  appear  at  first  sight  to  be  suggested 
by  a  view  of  the  diversity  as  well  as  number  of  its  subjects, 
it  has  seemed  to  me  upon  the  whole  to  adapt  itself  best  to 
the  course  which  the  negotiation  actually  took,  both  in  the 
oral  discussions,  and  in  the  entries  upon  the  protocols ;  and 
that  it  will  become  most  intelligible,  whether  in  its  incidents 
or  its  general  spirit,  when  exhibited  as  a  whole.  In  the 
hope  that  this  mode  of  making  up  my  report  may  meet 
your  approbation,  I  proceed,  without  more  of  introduction, 
to  its  proper  business. 

I.  WEST  INDIA  TRADE.  After  the  slave  trade  question 
had  been  disposed  of,  the  subject  upon  which  we  next 
entered,  was  that  of  the  commercial  intercourse  between 
the  United  States,  and  the  British  colonial  ports  in  the  West 
Indies  and  North  America.  Copious  as  this  subject  was 
found  to  be  when  examined  in  all  its  details,  its  mere  dis 
cussion,  I  mean  the  strictly  commercial  parts,  was  perhaps 
attended  with  less  difficulty,  than  that  of  some  others.  It 
had  been  familiar  to  the  past  and  even  recent  discussions  of 
the  two  governments ;  so  much  so,  that,  upon  almost  every 
point  connected  with  it,  opinions  had  been  expressed  by 
both.  When,  at  an  early  stage,  the  British  plenipotentia 
ries  said,  that,  after  the  opening  of  this  trade  to  the  vessels 
of  the  United  States,  by  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the  24th 
June,  1822,  it  had  not  been  expected  by  Great  Britain,  that 
our  foreign  tonnage  duty,  and  additional  impost,  would  con 
tinue  to  be  levied  upon  their  vessels,  I  naturally  replied, 
that,  to  whatever  other  observations  the  policy  of  the  United 
States,  might  be  open  in  this  respect,  it  could  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  been  unexpected,  as,  upon  at  least  two  occa 
sions  since  I  had  been  their  organ  at  this  Court,  they  had 
expressly  declined  acceding  by  compact  to  the  very  terms 
in  regard  to  this  trade,  which  were  afterwards  moulded  into 
the  act  of  Parliament.  Your  instructions  being  precise  and 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  513 

full  upon  this  head,  I  caused  them  to  be  well  understood. 
I  recapitulated  the  history  of  the  negotiations  that  led  to  the 
convention  of  the  twentieth  of  October,  1818,  in  all  those 
parts  of  it  which  had  relation  to  the  question  of  commercial 
intercourse.  I  presented  the  review  of  all  the  legislative 
acts,  or  other  measures  affecting  this  intercourse,  as  well 
prior  as  subsequent  to  that  convention.  On  the  side  of 
Great  Britain;  the  act  of  Parliament  of  July,  1812,  the  draft 
of  the  four  articles  submitted  by  Lord  Castlereagh,  in  1817, 
the  act  of  Parliament  of  May,  1818,  and  the  order  of  coun 
cil  which  followed  it  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  same 
month.  On  the  side  of  the  United  States;  the  act  of  Con 
gress  of  the  third  of  March,  1815,  (the  legislative  basis  of 
their  system  of  reciprocity,)  the  two  acts,  original  and  sup 
plementary,  of  April  the  eighteenth,  1818,  and  May  the 
fifteenth,  1820,  concerning  navigation;  the  act  of  May  the 
sixth,  1822,  with  the  President's  proclamation  of  the  24th 
of  August,  founded  upon  that  act;  to  all  these  I  referred,  in 
connexion,  also,  with  the  second  negotiation  of  June,  and 
September,  1819,  when  the  proposals  again  submitted  by 
me  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  for  regulating  this  inter 
course  by  treaty,  were  again  rejected  by  Great  Britain. 
The  deduction  I  made  from  the  whole  was,  that  the  United 
States  had,  with  uniform  consistency  and  steadiness,  pur 
sued  a  course  in  regard  to  this  trade,  which  aimed  at  placing 
it  upon  a  footing  of  entire  reciprocity;  that  they  asked  no 
thing  more,  but,  in  justice  to  their  citizens,  could  be  satis 
fied  with  nothing  less. 

To  work  out  this  reciprocity,  seemed,  however,  not  to  be 
an  easy  task,  I  remarked,  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain,  what 
ever  had  been  her  desire.  Her  commercial  system  was  of 
long  standing,  and,  from  its  great  extent,  often  in  no  slight 
degree  complicated  and  intricate.  It  was  marked  not  only 
by  a  diversity  in  its  operation  upon  her  home  and  colonial 


514  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

empire,  but  by  subdivided  diversities  in  its  application  to 
her  colonies.  In  some  of  her  West  India  Islands,  for  exam 
ple,  there  were  export  duties,  in  others  none.  Some  had 
port  charges,  and  various  other  local  charges,  operating 
upon  vessels  or  their  cargoes,  not  recognized  in  others ;  but, 
what  was  more  important  than  all,  her  ancient  navigation 
acts  still  remained  substantially  in  force,  mingling  their  fet 
ters  with  all  her  modern  legislation  upon  the  same  subject. 
Her  commercial  and  navigating  system,  whatever  other 
recommendations  it  might  possess  in  her  eyes,  had  been 
rendered  by  time  and  her  past  policy,  deficient  in  the  uni 
formity  and  simplicity,  calculated  to  place  it,  in  these  respects 
at  least,  upon  a  par  with  the  commercial  and  navigating 
system  of  the  United  States.  This  broad  distinction  be 
tween  the  two  countries,  was  always  necessary  to  be  kept 
in  mind,  I  said,  in  their  commercial  dealings,  and,  whatever 
explanation  or  excuse  it  might  furnish  to  Great  Britain  for 
continuing  the  pursuit  of  a  course,  which  still  moved  in 
many  points,  in  subordination  to  her  ancient  policy;  it 
afforded  to  the  United  States  neither  motive  or  justification 
for  giving  up  their  claim  to  the  principle  of  an  absolute  and 
perfect  equality,  in  all  their  regulations  of  trade  with  Great 
Britain. 

This  brought  me  to  the  true  nature  of  the  act  of  Parlia 
ment,  of  the  24th  of  June,  1822.  I  explained  to  the  British 
Plenipotentiaries,  that  this  statute  had  not,  whatever  might 
have  been  its  intention,  opened  the  ports  of  the  British 
colonies,  in  the  West  Indies  and  America,  to  the  vessels  of 
the  United  States,  upon  the  same  terms  as  were  enjoyed  by 
British  vessels.  The  privileges  granted  by  it  to  vessels  of 
the  United  States  were,  that  they  might  carry  directly,  but 
in  no  other  way,  from  some  port  of  the  United  States  to 
certain  specified  colonial  ports,  certain  specified  articles  of 
merchandise,  whilst  very  high  duties  were  to  be  paid  on  all 


18*24.]  COURT   OF   LONDON.  515 

such  of  those  articles  as  could  alone  be  the  subjects  of  a 
profitable  trade.  British  vessels,  on  the  other  hand,  possess 
ed  the  additional  and  exclusive  privilege  of  carrying  the 
same  articles  to  the  same  colonial  ports,  directly  or  indi 
rectly,  and  free  from  all  duty  whatever,  when  carried  from 
a  British  colony  in  North  America,  to  a  British  colony  in 
the  West  Indies.  Moreover,  I  observed,  the  vessels  of  the 
United  States,  admitted  only  as  above  to  the  colonial  ports, 
were  obliged,  supposing  they  obtained  a  cargo,  to  return 
directly  to  the  United  States,  and  to  give  bond,  under  a 
heavy  penalty,  for  landing  it  at  the  port  for  which  it  was 
entered,  with  the  additional  burden,  not  imposed  by  the  act 
of  Parliament,  but  existing  in  fact,  of  paying  a  colonial 
export  duty  of  four  or  five  per  cent,  upon  the  value  of  this 
return  cargo.  This  burden  did  not  fall  upon  British 
vessels,  as  they  might  avoid  it  by  going,  which  they  were 
free  to  do,  to  any  port  of  the  British  dominions,  either  in 
Europe  or  America,  a  range  not  allowed  to  the  vessels  of 
the  United  States.  Nor  were  the  British  vessels  required  to 
give  any  export  bond  for  landing  the  articles  at  the  port  for 
which  entered,  and  producing  within  twelve  months  a  certi 
ficate  of  this  fact,  a  condition  which  was  also  attached  to 
American  vessels.  It  was  evident,  I  insisted,  from  the  fore 
going  recapitulation,  that  vessels  of  the  United  States,  had 
not  the  same  privilege  under  this  act  of  Parliament  with 
British  vessels,  and  that  the  former  were,  also,  subject  to 
restrictions,  imposed  by  the  act  or  otherwise  existing,  from 
which  the  latter  were  exempt. 

I  reminded  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  however,  that  no 
sooner  had  the  knowledge  of  this  act  of  Parliament  reached 
the  United  States,  than  the  President,  exercising,  without 
the  least  delay,  the  authority  with  which  by  anticipation  he 
had  been  invested,  issued  his  proclamation,  of  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  August,  1822,  opening  the  ports  of  the  United 


516  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

States  generally  to  British  vessels  coming  from  any  of  the 
ports  enumerated  in  the  British  act,  an  exercise  of  authority 
in  a  high  degree  liberal,  considering  the  relative  state  of  the 
statutes  of  the  two  countries  then  in  force  for  the  regulation 
of  this  trade.     In  other  respects,  the  proclamation  of  the 
President  had  done  nothing  more,  I  said,  than  lay  British 
vessels  coming  from  the  colonies  to  the  United  States,  under 
the  same  restrictions  in  regard  to  their  cargoes,  to  which 
vessels  of  the  United  States  were  subject  when  going  to  the 
colonies.     This  in  necessary  justice  to  the  United  States,  it 
was  obliged  to  do,  and  by  the  permanent  laws  of  the  Union, 
British  vessels  continued  liable  to  the  charge  of  foreign 
tonnage  and  impost  duties.     I   explained   to   the   British 
Plenipotentiaries,  that,  if  neither  the  proclamation  nor  the 
permanent  laws  of  the  Union,  imposed  burdens  upon  British 
vessels  and  their  cargoes  which  were  the  specific  counter 
parts  of  those  imposed  by  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the  24th 
of  June,  1822,  upon  American  vessels,  they  were  neverthe 
less  the  necessary  counterparts  of  the  burdens  which  did,  in 
point  of  fact,  exist  as  against  American  vessels.     To  their 
owners  it  mattered  not  whence  these  burdens  originated,  so 
long  as  they  continued  to  press  unequally  in  the  competition 
of  American  with  British  vessels.     It  was  to  complete  the 
intention  of  meeting  these  burdens  upon  a  basis  of  reciproci 
ty  at  all  points,  that  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  first  of  March, 
1823,  was   finally   and   on   full   deliberation  passed.      Its 
express  object  I  described  to  be  to  countervail  all  restrictions, 
of  whatever  kind  they  might  be,  in  actual  operation  against 
vessels  of  the  United  States,  whether  enacted  by  the  act  of 
the  24th  of  June,  1822,  in  force  under  the  old  navigation  act 
of  Charles  the  Second,  or  recognised   and  permitted   by 
colonial  ordinances  or  local  regulations  in  any  of  the  British 
ports  that  had  been  opened.     As  this  act  of  Congress  could 
not  effectuate  its  just  object  by  applying  to  British  vessels 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  517 

restrictions  which  were  of  the  precise  and  corresponding 
nature  with  those  operating  against  the  vessels  of  the  United 
States,  it  adopted,  I  said,  such  as  were  analogous  to  them, 
without,  however,  in  any  instance  going  beyond  the  measure 
of  a  necessary  retaliation,  but  rather  keeping  within  than 
exceeding  this  limit.  The  act  of  Parliament  had,  it  was 
true,  proceeded  upon  the  hypothesis  of  extending  like  privi 
leges  to  American  as  to  British  vessels  ;  but  here  it  had 
stopped,  without  imposing  upon  the  latter  the  same  restric 
tions  which  had  previously  existed  against  the  former.  The 
act  of  Congress  went  further,  and,  in  according  the  like 
privileges  with  the  British  act,  imposed  also  restrictions 
equivalent  to  those  which  were  really  and  injuriously  in 
force  against  the  vessels  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  I  fully  opened  to  the  British 
Plenipotentiaries  the  principles  and  views  of  my  govern 
ment  in  relation  to  this  interest.  If  I  am  not  more  minute 
in  recounting  all  that  I  said,  it  is  merely  because  I  abstain 
from  swelling  this  communication  by  a  repetition  of  the 
principles,  the  facts,  and  the  arguments,  contained  in  your 
dispatch  to  me  of  the  twenty-third  of  June,  1823.  With 
the  various  matter  of  this  dispatch,  I  had  made  myself 
familiar,  and  it  was  alike  my  duty  and  endeavour,  to  exhibit 
it  all  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  in  the  most  perspicu 
ous  and  impressive  ways  in  my  power,  with  the  addition  of 
such  other  illustrations  as  belonged  to  the  subject.  I  went  on 
to  remark,  that  it  seemed  plain,  notwithstanding  our  counter 
vailing  restrictions,  that  we  were  still  left  at  a  disadvantage 
in  the  competition ;  for,  that,  for  an  enumerated  list  of  ports 
open  to  our  vessels,  only  part  of  which  too  had  been  open 
ed  by  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the  24th  of  June,  1822,  we 
had  opened  «//of  our  ports  in  return,  to  British  vessels.  For 
an  enumerated  list  of  articles,  which  we  were  alone  allowed 
to  export  to  the  colonies,  we  received,  in  return,  all  articles 

44 


518  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

which  the  colonies  found  it  most  to  their  interest  to  send  to 
us  ;  and,  for  a  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  on  our  articles  imported 
into  the  West  Indies,  and,  of  four  or  five  per  cent,  on  those 
that  we  brought  away,  our  laws  did  nothing  more  than 
retain  a  foreign  tonnage  duty,  of  less  than  a  dollar  per  ton 
on  British  vessels,  and  of  ten  per  cent  on  the  duty  other 
wise  chargeable  on  the  articles  brought  to  the  United  States 
in  them.  It  was  even  doubtful,  I  said,  whether,  under  these 
circumstances,  our  vessels  would  be  able  to  continue  the 
trade,  and  it  was  perhaps  quite  as  much  so,  whether  the 
double  system  of  restrictions  upon  which  it  stood,  would  not 
deprive  it  of  all  value  to  both  countries.  I  used,  under 
this  branch  of  the  subject,  all  the  topics  of  illustration  with 
which  your  dispatch  had  supplied  me,  arid  others  which 
the  subject  called  for. 

The  British  Order  in  Council  of  the  seventeenth  of  July, 
1823,  laying  a  duty  of  four  shillings  and  three  pence  sterling 
per  ton  on  our  vessels  going  to  the  colonial  ports,  to  coun 
tervail,  as  Mr.  Secretary  Canning  informed  me  in  October 
last,  our  foreign  tonnage  duty,  having  been  subsequent  in 
date  to  your  instructions  to  me,  no  remarks  upon  it  were, 
consequently,  embraced  in  them.  But  I  considered  the 
duty  imposed  by  this  order  open  to  the  same  animadver 
sions,  as  all  the  other  burdens  falling  upon  our  vessels.  If 
we  had  grounds  for  complaint  before  this  measure,  they 
were  but  increased  by  it.  If  we  were  deprived  of  the  oppor 
tunity  of  fair  competition  in  the  absence  of  this  new  duty, 
its  imposition  could  not  but  augment  the  inequality.  If  we 
were  carrying  on  the  trade  under  every  prospect  of  disad 
vantage  without  it,  a  more  positive  and  certain  loss  to  us 
must  be  the  result  if  it  were  continued.  Hence,  I  did  not 
scruple  to  say  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  that  it  must 
be  considered  as  giving  additional  force  to  all  our  other 
objections  to  their  regulations.  I  had  not,  I  admitted,  and 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  519 

from  the  cause  stated,  received  your  instructions  upon  the 
subject  of  it :  but,  as  our  foreign  tonnage  duty  and  the  addi 
tional  impost  had  been  kept  up  against  British  vessels  in 
necessary  self  defence  against  all  the  anterior  restrictions 
upon  our  vessels,  and  duties  upon  their  cargoes,  I  took  it  for 
granted  that  this  new  British  duty,  if  not  abrogated,  would, 
on  the  same  principles  and  from  the  same  necessity,  be  met 
by  some  measure  of  counteraction  on  our  side.  In  offerisg 
such  comments  as  these  upon  it,  I  trust  that  they  will  be 
thought  conformable  to  the  true  nature  and  objects  of  your 
instructions,  though  not  in  words  pointed  out  by  them. 

In  the  end,  I  offered  for  the  entire  and  satisfactory  regu 
lation  of  this  trade,  a  draft  which  I  prepared  of  the  two 
articles  (marked  A)  annexed  to  the  protocol  of  the  third 
conference.  The  first  of  these  articles,  after  reciting  the 
restrictions  upon  the  trade  existing  on  each  side,  and  the 
desire  and  intention  that  prevailed  of  removing  them,  goes 
on  to  provide,  that,  upon  the  vessels  of  the  United  States 
admitted  by  law  into  the  colonial  ports,  and  upon  the  mer 
chandise  imported  in  them,  no  other  duties  or  charges  of 
any  kind,  should  be  levied  than  upon  British  vessels,  in 
cluding  all  vessels  of  the  colonies  themselves,  or,  upon  the 
like  merchandise  imported  into  the  colonial  ports  from  any 
other  port  or  place,  including  Great  Britain  and  the  colo 
nial  ports  themselves.  And,  reciprocally,  that,  upon  the 
vessels  of  Great  Britain,  admitted  by  law  into  the  ports  of 
the  United  States,  and  upon  the  merchandise  imported  in 
them,  no  other  duties  or  charges  of  any  kind  should  be 
levied,  than  upon  vessels  of  the  United  States,  including 
vessels  of  each  and  every  one  of  the  States,  or  upon  the 
like  merchandise  imported  into  the  United  States  from  any 
other  port  or  place  whatever.  The  words  last  underscored 
were  inserted  only  for  the  greater  satisfaction  of  the  British 
Plenipotentiaries,  it  being  explained  by  me,  and  so  under- 


520  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824, 

stood  by  them,  that  it  could  carry  no  new  meaning;  there 
being  no  such  thing  under  our  system  with  foreign  nations, 
as  a  vessel  of  any  one  of  the  States,  distinct  from  a  vessel  of 
the  United  States.  It  followed,  that  the  passage  would 
have  had  the  same  meaning  without  these  words.  The 
second  article  provided,  in  fulfilment  of  the  intentions  of  the 
first,  that  the  trade  should  continue  upon  the  footing  on 
which  it  had  been  placed  by  the  laws  of  the  two  countries, 
with  the  exception  of  the  removal,  by  Great  Britain,  of  the 
duties  specified  in  schedule  C,  of  the  Act  of  Parliament  of 
the  24th  of  June,  1822,  and  those  specified  in  the  schedule 
B,  of  the  act  of  the  fifth  of  August  of  the  same  year,  and 
of  the  removal,  by  the  United  States,  of  the  foreign  tonnage 
duty  and  additional  impost,  complained  of  by  Great  Britain. 
The  article  concluded  with  a  mutual  pledge  for  the  removal 
of  all  discriminating  duties  on  either  side,  of  whatever  kind 
they  might  be,  from  the  desire  which  operated  with  the 
parties,  of  placing  the  trade  in  all  respects  upon  a  footing 
of  perfect  equality.  Such  was  the  nature  of  my  proposals, 
for  the  more  exact  terms  of  which,  I  beg  to  refer  to  the 
paper  which  contains  them. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  made  immediate  and  the 
most  decided  objections  to  the  part  of  these  proposals  which 
went  to  the  abolition  of  the  duties  in  the  two  schedules  in 
dicated.  They  declared  that  under  no  circumstances  could 
they  accede  to  such  a  principle;  and  they  proceeded  to  assail 
it  under  every  form.  The  fundamental  error  of  their  rea 
soning,  as  always  heretofore  upon  the  same  point,  appeared 
to  me  to  lie  in  considering  their  colonial  possessions  as  part 
of  the  entire  British  dominion  at  one  time,  yet  treating  them 
as  separate  countries  at  another.  For  her  own  purposes, 
Britain  could  look  upon  these  colonies  as  on  one  and  the 
same  country  with  herself.  For  the  purposes  of  trade  with 
foreign  states,  she  felt  herself  at  liberty  to  consider  them  as 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  521 

detached  from  herself,  and  forming  a  new  and  distinct  conn- 
try;  as  moving,  in  short,  within  a  commercial  orbit  wholly 
of  their  own.  It  was  to  this,  that  her  rule,  resolved  into  its 
true  principles,  came  at  last.  However  such  a  rule  might 
be  met,  and  its  application  admitted,  as  between  foreign 
states  mutually  possessing  colonies,  and  therefore  mutually 
able,  in  their  commercial  intercourse  with  each  other,  to  act 
upon  it,  its  application  was  manifestly  unequal  and  incon 
gruous  towards  the  United  States.  Possessing  no  colonies 
themselves,  the  United  States  neither  legislated  nor  acted 
upon  a  principle  of  subdividing  their  empire  for  any  pur 
pose  of  commercial  advantage,  or  above  all  monopoly,  with 
other  nations,  but  held  out  indiscriminately  to  all,  one  integral 
and  undivided  system.  In  strict  justice,  it  would  hence  not 
be  unreasonable  in  them  to  expect,  that  all  nations  with 
which  they  entered  into  commercial  stipulations,  should 
look  upon  their  colonies,  if  they  had  any,  only  in  the  light 
of  an  extension  of  the  territories  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
parent  state,  since  this  was,  in  effect,  the  aspect  which  the 
United  States  presented  throughout  the  whole  extent  of 
their  territories  and  jurisdiction,  to  all  foreign  nations.  The 
productions  of  Massachusetts,  for  example,  which  entered 
into  the  articles  of  international  traffic,  were,  as  compared 
with  those  of  Louisiana,  scarcely  less  different  in  their  na 
ture,  than  were  those  of  Britain  from  those  of  Jamaica ; 
yet  one  commercial  code  spread  itself  over  the  whole  of  the 
United  States,  of  which  foreign  nations,  and  Britain  amongst 
them,  had  the  benefit,  whilst  different  commercial  codes, 
and  entangling  commercial  practices  under  them,  were  seen 
to  exist  on  the  part  of  Britain.  This  resulted  from  the 
mere  fact,  important  it  might  be  to  Britain,  but  indifferent 
to  the  United  States,  of  these  codes  and  these  practices 
being  applicable  to  the  government  of  different  portions  of 
the  British  empire,  some  of  which  fell  under  the  denomi- 

44* 


522  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

nation  of  her  home  dominion,  and   some  of  her  colonial 
dominion. 

It  was  to  no  effective  purpose,  however,  that  I  enlarged 
upon,  and  endeavored  to  enforce,  by  placing  in  other  lights, 
the  foregoing  distinctions.  The  British  Plenipotentiaries 
continued  to  combat  my  positions,  and  to  insist  upon  their 
right  to  lay  whatever  duties  they  deemed  expedient  upon 
our  productions  going  to  their  Islands,  in  protection  of  the 
like  articles  exported  to  them  from  any  part  of  their  own 
dominion.  They  said  that  they  would  never  part  with  this 
right,  for  which  we  offered  them  no  equivalent  concession. 
They  likened  our  request  for  its  surrender,  by  an  analogy, 
the  force  of  which,  I  could  never  see,  to  a  request  on  the 
side  of  Great  Britain,  should  she  prefer  such  a  request,  to 
be  admitted  into  a  participation  of  our  coasting  trade. 
They  alleged  also,  that  in  laying  these  duties,  they  had  aim 
ed  only  at  making  them  a  necessary  protection  to  their  own 
subjects  in  their  North  American  colonies,  and  that  they 
were  scarcely  up  to  this  point,  was  shown  by  the  fact, 
which  they  also  alleged,  of  their  subjects  in  those  colonies 
not  having  yet  been  able,  since  the  trade  was  opened,  to 
obtain  a  proportionate  share  of  it. 

I  had  more  than  once,  occasion  to  remark,  that  it  was  not 
the  right  of  either  party  to  model  its  own  laws  as  it  thought 
proper,  that  we  were  discussing;  it  was  the  terms  upon 
which  it  would  be  best  to  do  so,  that  we  ought  rather  to  be 
desirous  of  settling.  Here  were  certain  colonies  belonging 
to  Great  Britain  on  the  continent  of  North  America.  It 
happened  that  some  of  them  were  in  the  immediate  neigh 
bourhood  of  the  United  States.  Their  course  of  industry 
was  the  same,  their  productions  the  same.  If  the  live  stock 
and  lumber  from  one  of  these  colonies,  from  that  of  New 
Brunswick  for  example,  were  allowed  to  be  imported  into 
Antigua  or  St.  Christopher's  duty  free,  whilst  similar  arti- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  523 

cles  from  the  state  of  Maine,  bordering  upon  New  Bruns 
wick,  labored  under  a  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  on  their  impor 
tation  into  the  same  Islands,  was  not,  I  asked,  all  just  com 
petition  at  an  end  ?  Still  more  was  this  the  case,  I  remark 
ed,  if,  after  disposing  of  their  cargoes,  the  vessel  from 
New  Brunswick  could  take  in  a  return  cargo,  absolved 
from  an  export  duty,  and  was  moreover  left  at  liberty  to 
take  advantage  of  circumstances  by  trading  from  colony  to 
colony,  whilst  the  vessel  from  Maine  was  obliged  to  depart 
in  ballast,  or,  if  she  took  in  a  cargo,  do  so  subject  to  the 
export  duty.  How  too,  under  the  weight  of  this  latter 
duty,  were  the  articles  upon  which  it  was  charged  to  bear 
up  in  the  markets  of  the  United  States  against  the  competi 
tion  of  similar  articles  found  in  their  markets,  partly  of  their 
own  produce,  and  partly  derived  from  Islands  in  the  West 
Indies,  other  than  those  belonging  to  Great  Britain.  It  was 
thus,  that  I  endeavored  to  establish  the  reasonableness  of 
our  complaints,  arid  to  recommend  our  proposals  to  adop 
tion.  I  admitted  the  general  right  which  every  nation  had 
to  foster  the  industry  of  its  own  subjects,  preferably  to  that 
of  strangers,  but  controverted  its  justice  or  expediency,  as 
applicable  to  this  trade,  a  trade  that  was  anomalous  in 
many  points,  and  to  be  judged  of  and  regulated  not  so 
much  on  any  general  theory,  as  under  an  impartial  view  of 
all  the  peculiarities  that  belonged  to  it.  As  to  the  expres 
sion  "  from  elsewhere"  introduced  into  the  act  of  Congress 

O 

of  the  first  of  March,  1823,  I  insisted  upon  the  propriety 
of  giving  it  a  construction  that  would  include  the  British 
colonies  themselves  as  well  as  foreign  countries,  the  only 
construction  that  ever  could  satisfy  the  United  States,  be 
cause  the  only  one  that  could  ever  be  equitable.  Without 
it,  a  reciprocity  in  words  might  exist ;  but  there  would  be 
none  in  fact.  There  was  obviously  no  foreign  nation,  ex 
cept  the  United  States,  that  supplied  the  British  West 


524  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

Indies,  with  the  articles  in  which  a  traffic  had  been  opened. 
To  say,  therefore,  that  they  should  be  imported  into  the 
British  islands,  subject  to  no  higher  duties  than  were  levied 
on  articles  of  the  same  kind  coming  from  any  other  foreign 
country,  would  be  altogether  without  meaning.  The  field 
of  competition  was  exclusively  in  the  North  American  colo 
nies  of  Britain.  These,  by  their  position  and  all  their  local 
peculiarities,  were  fairly  to  be  considered  as  another  country 
in  the  estimate  of  this  trade,  though  they  were,  it  was  true, 
in  political  subjection  to  Great  Britain.  Their  being  depen 
dencies,  altered  not  those  physical  and  geographical  charac 
teristics  in  them,  which  made  them  the  rivals  in  this  inter 
course,  and  the  only  rivals  of  the  United  States. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  yielded  to  none  of  this  rea 
soning.  They  admitted  that  there  were  many  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  shipping 
question,  and  of  this  intercourse  generally,  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States.  These  difficulties  were 
partly  colonial,  partly  the  result  of  their  old  navigation 
laws,  and  partly  springing  from  the  nature  of  the  British 
North  American  trade,  which  bore  so  close  an  affinity  to 
some  portion  of  the  trade  of  the  United  States.  But  they 
continued  to  declare  their  determination  not  to  admit  the 
productions  of  the  United  States  into  their  islands,  upon 
the  same  footing  with  the  like  productions  from  other  colo 
nies  of  their  own;  and  they  reiterated  their  allegations,  that 
even,  under  the  present  duties  on  our  productions,  the  trade 
was  in  our  favor.  They  argued  hence,  that  the  amount  of 
the  duties,  instead  of  being  too  high,  seemed  insufficient 
thus  far,  taken  on  a  general  scale,  to  balance  the  advantage 
of  our  proximity  to  the  West  Indies,  and  of  the  greater 
extent  and  productiveness  of  our  soil.  On  this  head  they 
gave  me  details.  They  said  that,  by  their  latest  accounts, 
full  two-thirds  of  the  flour  and  lumber  sent  to  their  islands 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  525 

from  North  America,  were  ascertained  to  have  been  of  the 
produce  of  the  United  States,  and  that  perhaps  seven-eighths 
of  this  quantity  were  conveyed  in  vessels  of  the  United 
States.  On  the  return  trade,  also,  they  declared  that  our 
vessels  had  a  share  not  much  below  the  same  proportion. 
To  these  statements,  I  could  only  reply,  that  my  impres 
sions  were  different.  That  it  was  true  I  was  in  possession 
of  no  returns  subsequent  to  June,  1823,  but  that,  up  to  that 
period,  my  information  justified  rne  in  believing  that  the 
trade  had  not  yielded  a  fair  proportion  of  gain  to  our  mer 
chants.  The  British  Plenipotentiaries  dwelt  emphatically 
upon  the  circumstance  of  our  vessels  taking  away  specie 
from  their  islands,  in  place  of  a  return  cargo  in  the  produce 
of  the  islands,  as  indicative  of  the  trade  being  against  the 
islands,  since  it  left  upon  their  hands  their  rum  and  molas 
ses,  articles  which  they  were  chiefly  anxious  should  find  a 
market  in  the  United  States.  If  it  were  the  export  duty  that 
produced  this  necessity  in  our  vessels  to  take  payment  in 
money  for  their  cargoes,  rather  than  in  the  produce  of  the 
islands,  the  Plenipotentiaries  said  that  they  could  not  repeal 
it,  because  it  applied  equally  to  British  vessels.  It  was  a 
duty  of  four  and  a  half  per  cent,  existing  on  the  exportation 
of  produce,  not  in  all  of  the  islands,  but  in  some  of  them, 
viz.  in  Antigua,  St.  Christopher's,  Montserat,  Barbadoes, 
Nevis,  and  the  Virgin  islands.  In  the  latter,  it  was  grant 
ed  for  the  benefit  of  the  crown,  in  1774.  In  most  or  all  of 
the  others  it  had  existed,  for  the  same  purpose,  as  far  back 
as  1668.  British  vessels  paid  it,  they  said,  when  going 
from  these  islands,  whether  their  destination  was  the  mother 
country,  or  any  foreign  country.  But  I  did  not  understand 
them  to  say  that  it  was  paid  if  they  went  only  from  colony 
to  colony. 

To  the  objection  of  only  a  limited  number  of  ports  being 
open   to  our  vessels,  they  said  that  they  admitted   them. 


526  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1924. 

wherever  custom  houses  were  established,  and  that  the 
privilege  reserved  to  British  vessels,  of  going  from  colony. 
to  colony,  was  only  the  privilege  of  letting  them  enjoy  their 
own  coasting  trade.  They  seemed  to  forget,  that,  by  what 
ever  name  this  privilege  went,  it  was  still  one  which  ope 
rated  against  the  competition  of  vessels  of  the  United  States. 
On  the  non-admission  into  their  islands,  of  articles  that  we 
desired  to  send,  as,  for  example,  salt-fish,  beef,  pork;  these, 
they  said,  were  also  excluded  from  the  direct  trade  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  including  all  other 
foreign  countries.  Here,  too,  they  seemed  to  throw  out  of 
mind,  that  this  very  exclusion,  in  whatever  principle  it 
originated,  still  operated  against  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States;  for,  that  a  system  of  positive  exclusion 
formed  no  part  of  the  regular  or  permanent  system  of  the 
United  States,  and  was  therefore  one  of  which,  as  long  as 
they  dealt  out  a  different  measure  of  commercial  benefit  to 
other  nations,  they  had  good  grounds  to  complain. 

I  am  saved  the  necessity  of  recapitulating  any  further,  the 
remarks  of  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  upon  our  proposals, 
from  their  having  furnished  me  with  a  summary  of  them  in 
writing.  This  was  not  in  the  regular  course  of  our  proceed 
ings,  and  the  paper  not  being  considered  as  an  official  one, 
was  not  annexed  to  any  protocol,  or  referred  to  in  any.  It 
was  merely  given  to  me  as  an  informal  memorandum,  in 
which  light  I  was  willing  and  glad  to  receive  it,  as  it 
protects  me  from  all  risk  of  not  doing  justice  in  my  report  to 
their  representations.  It  will  be  found  among  the  enclo 
sures,  marked  W. 

After  all  that  I  have  said,  it  may  be  almost  superfluous  to 
state,  that  this  Government  will  decline  abrogating  the 
tonnage  duty  of  four  shillings  and  three  pence  sterling 
imposed  upon  our  vessels,  by  the  order  in  council  of  July, 
1823.  Mr.  Huskisson  expressly  brought  this  subject  before 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  527 

the  House  of  Commons,  in  the  course  of  the  last  session  of 
Parliament,  with  a  view  to  give  full  validity  to  that  order, 
doubts  having  arisen  how  far  it  was  justified  by  the  provi 
sions  of  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the  preceding  session,  on 
which  it  was  founded.  By  this  act,  a  general  power  had 
been  given  to  the  King  in  council,  to  impose  countervailing 
duties  on  the  cargoes  of  foreign  vessels,  but  not  upon  their 
tonnage.  It  was  under  this  act  that  the  order  of  July  1823, 
affecting  the  tonnage  of  our  vessels,  passed;  and  Mr.  Huskis- 
son  obtained,  at  the  last  session,  a  new  act  for  indemnifying 
all  persons  concerned  in  executing  this  order,  which,  though 
out  of  the  words,  was  conceived  to  be  within  the  objects  of 
the  first  act.  A  copy  of  the  last  act  is  enclosed.  The  two 
acts  taken  together,  now  give  to  the  King  and  Council  a 
permanent  power  to  meet  other  nations  on  the  ground  of 
reciprocity  in  duties,  both  as  to  vessels  and  cargoes.  To 
this  ground,  Prussia  has  acceeded,  by  a  treaty  concluded 
with  this  Government  in  April  last,  a  printed  copy  of  which 
I  enclose,  that  its  terms  may  be  seen.  Denmark  has  done 
the  same,  by  a  treaty  concluded  in  June.  The  latter  is  not 
published  as  yet,  but  I  have  reason  to  know,  that  its  terms 
are  the  same  as  those  of  the  treaty  with  Prussia.  It  does 
not  include  the  colonies  of  Denmark,  nor  of  course,  those  of 
Britain,  standing,  in  this  respect,  upon  the  footing  of  our 
commercial  convention  with  Britain  of  1815.  Prussia, 
having  no  colonies,  her  treaty,  as  far  as  there  will  be  room 
for  its  operation  at  all,  necessarily  stands  upon  the  same 
footing.  Among  the  colonies  of  Denmark,  are  compre 
hended  Greenland,  Iceland,  and  the  Feroe  Islands,  which 
are  enumerated  as  such  in  the  treaty.  It  is  understood  that 
Sweden  has  shown  a  disposition  to  come  into  this  recipro 
city,  and  that  there  are  pending  negotiations  between  this 
Government  and  that  of  the  Netherlands  to  the  same  effect. 
After  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  had  finished  all  their 


523  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

remarks  upon  our  proposals,  I  thought  it  best,  seeing  that 
they  had  not  proved  acceptable,  to  invite  others  from  them, 
in  turn,  to  be  taken  for  reference  to  my  Government.  These 
they  afforded  me,  and  they  are  annexed,  marked  L,  to  the 
protocol  of  the  sixteenth  conference.  The  first  article,  after 
reciting  the  desire  of  both  parties  to  abolish,  reciprocally,  all 
discriminating  duties  in  this  trade,  proceeds  to  effect  this 
purpose,  after  the  British  understanding  of  it.  It  pledges 
Great  Britain  to  lay  no  higher  duties  on  our  produce,  than 
upon  produce  of  the  same  kind,  imported  not  from  elsewhere, 
or  from  any  other  country,  but  from  any  other  foreign 
country,  using  here  the  very  term  to  which,  in  both  the 
former  negotiations,  we  had  objected  at  large.  The  same 
term  has  place  in  the  part  of  the  article  intended  to  operate 
against  Great  Britain,  as  she  only  claims,  in  sending  her 
colonial  produce  to  the  United  States,  that  it  shall  be  receiv 
ed,  subject  to  the  same  duties  as  are  paid  on  articles  of  the 
same  kind,  when  imported  into  the  United  States,  from  any 
other  foreign  country.  To  this  correlative  provision,  the 
British  Plenipotentiaries  referred,  as  illustrative  of  the  true 
idea  of  reciprocity.  I  again  insisted  upon  its  manifesting 
the  very  reverse.  It  was  palpable  that  the  term  had  a  real 
substantive  meaning  in  the  one  case,  but  might  as  well  be 
omitted  in  the  other.  Like  produce  with  that  sent  to  the 
British  Islands  from  the  United  States,  the  Islands  obtained, 
as  we  had  seen,  from  no  other  foreign  country,  but  only 
from  the  British  possessions  in  North  America ;  whereas 
the  United  States  did  receive  from  Cuba,  from  St.  Domingo, 
and  from  other  foreign  Islands  and  countries,  the  same  kind 
of  produce  as  that  yielded  in  the  British  Islands.  Surely 
then  Great  Britain  would  be  benefited  by  the  operation  of 
the  term,  whilst  to  the  United  States  it  must  be  nugatory. 
There  was  a  visible  sphere  within  which  it  would  act  in  the 
one  case,  whilst  in  the  other  there  was  no  shadow  of  founda- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  529 

tion  upon  which  it  could  rest.  But  I  was  always  unsuccess 
ful  in  obtaining,  from  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  the 
admissions  due  to  us  on  this  cardinal  principle.  Their 
second  article  provides  for  the  actual  abolition,  subject  of 
course  to  the  foregoing  reservation,  of  all  discriminating 
duties  or  charges  of  every  kind,  whether  on  the  vessels  or 
cargoes  of  the  two  powers.  The  third  contains  a  stipulation, 
that,  in  case  the  trade  should  prove  on  trial  unduly  advanta 
geous  to  one  of  the  parties,  the  other  will  examine  in  a 
proper  spirit  the  complaint,  and,  on  its  being  substantiated, 
adopt  measures  in  unison  with  the  true  principles  on  which 
the  parties  intended  to  fix  it.  The  fourth  provides,  that 
whatever  advantages  Great  Britain  may  in  future  extend  to 
any  friendly  state  in  Europe  or  America,  with  respect  to 
this  trade,  shall  be  common  to  the  United  States ;  and  that 
the  United  States  shall  extend  to  Great  Britain  whatever 
advantages  they  may  at  any  time  grant  to  the  most  favored 
state,  in  any  trade  carried  on  between  the  possessions  of 
such  state  in  the  West  Indies  or  America,  and  the  United 
States.  The  fifth  and  last  article  provides,  in  consideration 
oftheforegoingarrangements,i\\&t  consuls  shall  be  admit 
ted  from  the  United  States  into  the  open  colonial  ports,  and 
received  on  the  same  conditions  as  are  stipulated  in  the 
fourth  article  of  the  convention  of  July,  1815.  Upon  this 
last  article  I  shall  have  occasion  to  remark  in  another  part 
of  my  communication.  The  others  I  leave,  including  the 
fourth,  upon  the  remarks  already  made.  The  fourth,  it  is 
evident,  still  keeps  to  the  British  principle  of  considering 
their  colonies  as  equivalent,  of  themselves,  to  the  whole  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  arrangements  of  this  trade. 

During  the  pendency  of  the  negotiation,  I  received  a  letter, 
which  seemed  to  me  to  be  of  importance,  from  Mr.  Kankey, 
our  Consular  Commercial  Agent  at  the  Island  of  Barbadoes. 
He  informed  me  that,  under  directions  which  had  been. 

45 


530  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824, 

recently  given  to  the  Collector  and  Comptroller  of  the 
Customs  of  that  Island,  by  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 
Treasury,  vessels  of  the  United  States  were  permitted  to 
land  there  a  portion  of  their  cargoes,  and  to  carry  the  re 
mainder  elsewhere,  if  entered  for  exportation,  paying  the 
import  duty  only  on  so  much  as  was  landed.  This  regula 
tion,  he  added,  would  be  of  service  to  our  trade,  provided 
the  necessity  of  paying  the  tonnage  money  of  four  shillings 
and  three  pence  sterling  per  ton,  at  more  than  one  of  the 
colonial  ports,  during  the  same  voyage  could  be  avoided ; 
and  he  appealed  to  me  to  have  this  effected.  I  immediately 
brought  the  subject  before  the  British  Plenipotentiaries, 
urging  the  right  of  our  vessels  to  an  exemption  from  all 
such  double  payments,  on  the  ground  of  British  vessels 
never  being  subject  to  double  payments  of  tonnage  duty  in 
the  United  States,  during  the  same  voyage,  though  they  did 
proceed  from  port  to  port.  I  was  asked  if  I  had  any  instruc 
tions  from  my  Government  upon  this  point.  I  replied  that 
I  had  not,  but  that  I  was  confident  in  my  belief  that,  under 
our  laws,  the  fact  could  not  be  otherwise  than  as  I  had 
stated  it.  Mr.  Huskisson  then  said  that  he  would  obtain 
the  sanction  of  this  Government  for  placing  our  vessels  in 
the  West  Indies  upon  the  same  footing,  in  this  respect,  upon 
which  British  vessels  were  placed  in  the  United  States,  and 
would  undertake,  in  his  official  capacity  of  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  to  see  that  the  necessary  orders  were  forth 
with  issued  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object. 

Mr.  Rarikey  made  another  representation  to  me,  which  I 
also  brought  before  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  as  perti 
nent  to  the  business  in  which  we  were  engaged.  He  stated 
that  an  improper  duty  was  charged  at  Barbadoes,  on  the 
article  of  biscuit,  when  imported  in  barrels  from  the  United 
States,  a  repeal  of  which  he  had  not  been  able  to  effect  by 
remonstrating  with  the  collector.  This  article,  when  intend- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  531 

ed  for  a  foreign  market,  is  packed  in  barrels,  such  as  are 
used  to  hold  flour,  and  seldom  contain,  it  appears,  more 
than  eighty  pounds  weight.  Bat  without  any  reference  to 
the  weight,  the  collector  was  in  the  habit  of  demanding,  on 
every  such  barrel  of  biscuit  (the  cracker)  landed  at  Barba- 
does,  a  duty  of  two  shillings  and  sixpence  sterling,  when,  by 
the  true  construction  of  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the  24th  of 
June,  1822,  under  which  the  duty  arose,  it  was  believed 
that  only  one.  shilling  and  sixpence  per  hundredweight  ought 
ever  to  be  charged.  Of  this  heavy  overcharge  on  a  single 
article,  which  the  exporters  of  the  middle  states  were  con 
stantly  sending  to  the  British  Islands,  I  complained  in  the 
terms  that  Mr.  Kankey's  representation  to  me  warranted. 
Mr.  Huskisson  gave  me  an  immediate  assurance  that  my 
complaint  should  be  attended  to.  He  subsequently  inform 
ed  me  that,  in  consequence  of  it,  the  officers  of  the  customs, 
generally,  in  the  Islands,  had  been  directed,  in  all  cases 
where  such  biscuit  was  imported  from  the  United  States,  in 
barrels,  weighing  less  than  one-hundred  and  ninety-six 
pounds,  to  charge  the  duty  by  the  weight,  and  at  the  rate  of 
not  more  than  one  shilling  and  sixpence  sterling  per  hundred 
weight.  I  am  happy  to  think,  that,  in  at  least  these  two 
instances,  some  portion  of  immediate  relief  is  likely  to  be 
extended  to  our  trade  in  that  quarter. 

From  Mr.  Monroe  Harrison,  the  Consul  of  the  United 
States  at  Antigua,  I  also  received  a  communication,  whilst 
our  proceedings  were  going  on,  of  which  I  apprized  the 
Plenipotentiaries  of  this  Government.  He  informed  me  that 
our  citizens,  trading  to  that  Island,  being  often  compelled  to 
sell  their  cargoes  on  a  credit,  payable  in  produce,  when  the 
crops  came  in,  found  it  convenient,  if  not  sometimes  neces 
sary,  to  make  another  voyage  to  the  West  Indies,  in  order 
to  recover  the  proceeds  of  their  cargoes  so  disposed  of.  The 
markets  in  the  French  and  other  Islands  being  often  better 


532  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

than  in  the  British  Islands,  our  citizens,  in  the  predicament 
stated,  would  find  it,  Mr.  Harrison  remarked,  to  their  advan 
tage  to  be  able  to  resort  to  the  former  Islands,  in  the  first  in 
stance.  But  this  object  they  were  precluded  from  coupling 
with  that  of  afterwards  calling  at  the  British  Islands  for  the 
collection  of  their  debts  in  the  produce  of  them,  since,  should 
they  only  touch  at  the  British  Islands,  having  on  board  any 
article  other  than  of  the  produce  of  the  United  States,  their 
vessels  became  liable  to  seizure.  I  did  not  receive  from  the 
British  Plenipotentiaries  the  same  attention  to  this  repre 
sentation  that  was  shown  in  the  other  cases;  nor,  under  my 
present  lights,  did  I  feel  altogether  warranted  in  pressing  it 
upon  the  same  grounds.  They  informed  me,  in  the  course 
of  our  conversation  upon  it,  that  there  was  no  objection, 
under  the  British  regulations,  to  a  vessel  of  the  United 
States,  bound  from  one  of  our  ports  to  any  Island  in  the 
West  Indies,  other  than  British,  afterwards  proceeding  from 
such  other  Island  to  a  British  Island,  with  the  whole  or  part 
of  her  cargo;  provided,  it  had  not  been  landed  at  any  inter 
mediate  port,  and  that  there  had  been  no  change  in  the 
property  during  the  voyage.  I  presume  that  those  of  our 
citizens  who  are  interested  in  knowing  it,  are  acquainted 
with  this  construction  of  the  British  laws ;  which,  however, 
does  not  present  itself  to  my  mind  in  the  light  of  any  impor 
tant  boon. 

Navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence. — The  act  of  Parlia 
ment,  of  the  5th  of  August,  1822,  having  immediate  rela 
tion  to  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  the  British  continental  possessions  in  their  neigh 
bourhood,  I  naturally  regarded  it,  as  your  instructions  to 
me  had  done,  in  connexion  with  the  act  of  June  the  24th, 
1822.  This  brought  under  consideration  our  claim  to  the 
navigation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence.  Between  this  ques 
tion,  and  the  questions  of  commercial  intercourse  under  the 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  533 

act  of  June,  1822,  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  were  con 
stantly  unwilling  to  acknowledge  any  connexion.  Never 
theless,  looking  to  your  instructions,  and  as  well  to  the  rea 
son  of  them  as  to  their  authority,  I  treated  the  two  ques 
tions  as  belonging  to  one  and  the  same  general  subject. 
They  asked  whether,  taking  the  two  acts  of  Parliament 
together,  the  United  States  did  not  already  enjoy  the  navi 
gation  of  this  river.  I  said  that  they  did :  by  the  act  of 
June  the  24th,  1822,  they  enjoyed  it  from  the  ocean  to 
Quebec;  and  by  that  of  the  5th  of  August,  1822,  from  any 
part  of  the  territories  of  the  United  States  to  Quebec.  But, 
from  the  fact  of  the  colonial  governments  in  Canada  being 
invested  with  a  discretionary  power  to  withdraw  the  latter 
of  these  concessions,  by  excepting  any  of  the  Canadian 
ports  from  those  to  which  our  vessels  were  made  admissi 
ble,  it  followed,  that  our  enjoyment  of  the  navigation  of  this 
river  was  rendered  contingent  upon  British  permission. 
This  was  a  tenure  not  reconcilable  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  with  the  growing  and 
permanent  wants  of  their  citizens  in  that  portion  of  the 
Union,  or  with  the  rights  of  the  nation.  It  was  due  to  both 
these  considerations  that  it  should  stand  upon  a  different 
tenure,  and  the  time  had  arrived  when  it  was  desirable  that 
the  two  nations  should  come  to  an  understanding  upon  a 
question  of  so  much  importance. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  next  asked,  whether  any 
question  was  about  to  be  raised  on  the  right  of  Great 
Britain  to  exclude,  altogether,  vessels  of  the  United  States 
from  trading  with  British  ports  situated  upon  the  St.  Law 
rence,  or,  elsewhere,  in  Canada.  I  replied  that  I  was  not 
prepared,  absolutely,  to  deny  such  a  right  in  Great  Britain, 
to  whatever  considerations  its  exercise  might  be  open.  I 
remarked,  also,  that  it  seemed  already  to  have  been  sub 
stantially  exercised  by  this  act  of  the  fifth  of  August,  1822  ; 

45* 


534  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

for,  by  its  provisions,  only  certain  enumerated  articles  were 
allowed  to  be  exported  from  the  United  States  into  Cana 
dian  ports,  and  duties  were  laid  upon  these  articles,  which 
might  be  said  to  amount  to  a  prohibition.  I  added  that? 
although  the  foregoing  act  had  not  laid  any  duty  on  the 
merchandise  of  the  United  States,  descending  the  St.  Law 
rence,  with  a  view  to  exportation  by  sea,  yet,  that  an  act  of 
the  preceding  year  did,  viz :  upon  their  timber  and  lumber, 
which  made  it  highly  expedient  that  the  relative  rights  of 
the  parties  to  the  use  of  the  waters  of  this  great  stream 
should  be  ascertained.  I  here  went  into  a  review  of  the 
footing  upon  which  the  trade  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Canadas  stood  under  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty 
of  1794.  The  memorial  from  the  inhabitants  of  Franklin 
county,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  and  the  report  of  the 
committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  upon  that  docu 
ment,  furnished  me  with  the  necessary  lights  for  executing 
this  duty,  as  well  as  for  pointing  out  the  injurious  and  bur 
densome  operation  of  the  act  of  the  fifth  of  August,  1822. 
The  latter  act  had  superseded  all  the  former  conditions  of  this 
intercourse.  With  these  former  conditions  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  had  been,  I  said,  content;  and,  it  was  believed, 
that  they  had  been  found,  on  experience,  satisfactory  on 
both  sides.  The  treaty  stipulations  of  1794  were  among 
the  articles  of  that  instrument  declared,  when  it  was  made, 
to  be  permanent;  and  so  mutually  beneficial  had  appeared 
to  be  their  operation,  that  both  parties  continued,  in  prac 
tice,  to  make  them  the  rule  of  their  conduct  for  some  years 
after  the  war  of  1812,  until,  by  the  acts  of  Parliament  just 
recited,  Great  Britain  chose  to  consider  the  intervention  of 
that  war  as  putting  an  end  to  their  validity.  This  state  of 
things,  by  remitting  each  party  to  their  anterior  and  origi 
nal  rights,  rendered  it  manifestly  incumbent  upon  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  now  to  attempt  to  settle,  by 


18*24.]  COURT   OF   LONDON.  535 

convention,  or  in  some  other  manner,  with  Great  Britain 
the  true  nature  of  the  tenure  by  which  they  held  the  navi 
gation  of  this  stream.  Such  was  the  character  of  the  re 
marks  by  which  I  illustrated  the  propriety  of  adding  to  the 
two  articles  which  I  had  offered  for  the  regulation  of  the 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the 
British  colonies,  whether  continental  or  insular,  a  third  arti 
cle,  relating  exclusively  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Law 
rence.  A  third  article  will  be  found,  accordingly,  in  this 
connexion,  as  part  of  our  projet  already  referred  to  as  an 
nexed  to  the  protocol  of  the  third  conference.  Its  stipula 
tions  were,  that  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  its  \ 
whole  length  and  breadth,  to  and  from  the,  sea,  should  be 
at  all  times  equally  free  to  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  both 
countries:  and,  that  the  vessels  belonging  to  either  party, 
should  never  be  subject  to  any  molestation  whatever  by  the 
other,  or  to  the  payment  of  any  duty  for  this  right  of  navi 
gation.  After  this  unequivocal  provision,  it  concluded  with 
a  clause,  that  as  to  such  reasonable  and  moderate  tolls 
as  either  side  might  claim  and  appear  to  be  entitled  to,  the 
contracting  parties  would  treat  at  a  future  day,  in  order 
that  the  principles  regulating  such  tolls  might  be  adjusted  to 
mutual  satisfaction. 

I  deemed  it  most  advisable  to  ingraft  upon  the  article  this 
principle  respecting  tolls,  although  it  was  not  particularly 
mentioned  in  your  dispatch.  In  pursuing  into  their  details 
some  of  the  general  principles  which  you  had  laid  down,  I 
was  left  under  the  impression  that  our  title  to  navigate  this 
river,  independently  of  the  consent  of  Great  Britain,  could 
be  made  out  with  more  complete  and  decisive  strength, 
under  the  qualified  admission  of  the  claim  to  toll.  The 
writers  on  public  law  had  generally  so  treated  the  subject, 
and  in  some  of  the  modern  treaties,  of  high  authority  in  our 
favor  on  the  general  question,  the  admission  was  also  to  be 


536  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

seen.  I  refer  particularly  to  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  of  the  thirtieth  of  May,  1814,  between  the  allied 
powers  and  France,  where,  after  providing  for  the  free  na 
vigation  of  the  Rhine  to  all  persons,  it  is  agreed  that  prin 
ciples  should  be  laid  down,  at  a  future  Congress,  for  the 
collection  of  the  duties  by  the  states  on  its  banks,  in  the 
manner  most  equal  and  favorable  to  the  commerce  of  all 
nations.  In  adverting  to  the  claim  of  toll  as  a  question  only 
for  future  discussion,  and  one  that  might,  be  of  like  interest 
to  both  parties,  (the  British  navigation  of  this  river  being 
obliged,  in  some  parts,  to  pass  close  to  our  bank,)  and,  more 
over,  where  the  claim,  if  advanced  on  either  side,  was  to  be 
made  dependent,  on  sufficient  cause  being  shown  for  it,  I 
did  not  believe  that  I  was  losing  sight  of  any  principle,  of 
value  to  the  United  States  in  this  controversy.  The  clause, 
I  trust,  will  be  found  to  have  been  too  guarded  in  its  terms 
to  be  open  to  any  such  risk. 

There  was  another  point,  on  which  I  felt  more  uncer 
tainty.  The  navigation  of  this  stream,  although  I  believed 
it  could  be  demonstrated  to  be  the  just  right  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  could  not  draw  after  it  all  its  benefits 
to  them,  without  a  concurrent  right  of  stopping  at  some 
point  or  port  where  both  of  its  banks  fell  within  the  colonial 
territory  of  Great  Britain.  Upon  what  footing  was  I  to 
treat  this  latter  and  subordinate  question  ?  Your  instruct 
ions  had  not  dealt  with  it,  and  I  felt  at  a  momentary  loss. 
It  could  scarcely  be  doubted  but  that,  our  right  to  navigate 
the  river  being  established,  Britain  would,  as  matter  of  in 
ternational  comity,  and  as  an  arrangement  advantageous 
also  to  herself,  allow  us  a  place  of  entry  for  our  vessels,  and 
deposite  for  our  produce,  somewhere  on  its  shores.  She 
has  so  largely,  of  late  years,  been  extending  the  warehous 
ing  system  to  all  other  nations,  for  their  convenience  and 
her  own,  that  it  might  well  be  presumed  she  would  not  ex- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  537 

elude  the  United  States  from  a  participation  in  it  at  Quebec, 
or  elsewhere,  at  a  suitable  port  in  Canada.  Yet  I  felt  it  to 
be  a  point  of  some  delicacy,  and,  therefore,  thought  that  it 
would  be  most  judicious  to  leave  it  wholly  untouched  in 
my  proposal.  Another  reason  operated  with  me  for  this 
silence.  As  far  as  I  was  able  to  carry  my  investigations 
into  the  point,  I  found  much  ground  for  supposing  that  the 
right  to  the  navigation  of  a  river  under  the  strong  circum 
stances  which  marked  that  of  the  United  States  to  the  navi 
gation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  would  involve,  as  an  incident, 
the  right  of  innocent  stoppage  somewhere  on  the  shores — 
an  incident  indispensable  to  the  beneficial  enjoyment  of  the 
right  itself.  By  the  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  Paris,  of 
1763,  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  granted  to 
Great  Britain;  but,  without  any  clause  securing  to  British 
vessels  the  privilege  of  stopping  at  New  Orleans,  then  a 
French  port,  or  at  any  other  port  or  place  on  any  part  of  the 
shores.  Yet  the  historial  fact  appears  to  have  been,  that 
Britain  did  use  New  Orleans  as  a  place  for  her  vessels  to 
stop  at,  and  this  without  any  subsequent  arrangement  with 
France  upon  the  subject.  The  case  becomes  still  stronger 
if,  afterwards,  when  New  Orleans  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Spain,  the  British  continued  to  use  it  for  the  same  purpose, 
contrary,  at  first,  to  the  remonstrances  of  the  Spanish  Gov 
ernor  of  that  town,  which  is  also  believed  to  have  been  the 
fact.  I  abstained  however,  from  asserting,  in  this  negotia 
tion,  the  subordinate  right  in  question,  thinking  that  we 
should  stand  stronger  by  silence. 

On  the  principal  question  of  our  equal  right  with  the 
British  to  the  entire  and  unobstructed  navigation  of  this 
river,  I  dwelt  with  all  the  emphasis  demanded  by  its  mag 
nitude.  I  spoke  of  it  as  a  question  intimately  connected 
with  the  present  interests  of  the  United  States,  and  which 
assumed  an  aspect  yet  more  commanding  in  its  bearing 
upon  tiieir  future  population  and  destinies.  Already  the  im- 


538  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

mense  regions  which  bordered  upon  the  lakes  and  northern 
rivers  of  the  United  States  were  rapidly  rilling  up  with  in 
habitants,  and  soon  the  dense  millions  who  would  cover 
them,  would  point  to  the  paramount  and  irresistible  neces 
sity  for  the  use  of  this  great  stream,  as  their  only  natural 
high-way  to  the  ocean.  Nor  was  the  question  one  of  mag 
nitude  to  this  part  of  the  Union  alone.  The  whole  nation, 
felt  their  stake  in  it,  the  Middle  and  the  North  more  imme 
diately,  but  all  the  rest  by  the  multiplied  ties  and  connec 
tions  which  bound  up  their  wants,  their  interests,  and  their 
sympathies,  with  the  Middle  and  the  North.  It  was  under 
such  a  view  of  the  immediate  and  prospective  value  of  this 
navigation  to  us,  that  I  first  presented  it  to  the  notice  of  the 
British  Plenipotentiaries  as  a  question  of  right.  I  told  them  j 
that  they  must  understand  this  to  be  the  sense  in  which  I 
had  drawn  up  the  article  upon  the  subject,  and  that  it  was 
the  sense  in  which  I  felt  myself  bound,  as  the  Plenipoten 
tiary  of  the  United  States,  to  urge  its  adoption. 

I  approach  an  interesting  part  of  this  negotiation,  when  I 
come  to  make  known  in  what  manner  the  British  Plenipo 
tentiaries  received  this  disclosure.  They  said,  that,  on 
principles  of  accommodation,  they  were  willing  to  treat  of 
this  claim  with  the  United  States  in  a  spirit  of  entire  amity ; 
that  is,  as  they  explained,  to  treat  of  it  as  a  concession  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain,  for  which  the  United  States,  must 
be  prepared  to  offer  a  fall  equivalent.  This  was  the  only 
light  in  which  they  could  entertain  the  question.  As  to  the 
claim  of  right,  they  hoped  that  it  would  not  even  be  advan 
ced  ;  persisted  in,  they  were  willing  to  persuade  themselves 
it  would  never  be.  It  was  equally  novel  and  extraordinary. 
They  could  not  repress  their  strong  feelings  of  surprise  at  its 
bare  intimation.  Great  Britain  possessed  the  absolute 
sovereignty  over  this  river  in  all  parts  where  both  its  banks 
were  of  her  territorial  dominion.  Her  right,  hence,  to 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  539 

exclude  a  foreign  nation  from  navigating  it,  was  not  to  be 
doubted,  scarcely  to  be  discussed.  This  was  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  at  first  received.  They  opposed  to  the  claim 
an  immediate,  positive,  unqualified  resistance. 

I  said  that  our  claim  was  neither  novel  nor  extraordinary. 
It  was  one  that  had  been  well  considered  by  my  govern 
ment,  and  was  believed  to  be  maintainable  on  the  soundest 
principles  of  public  law.  The  question  had  been  familiar 
to  the  past  discussions  of  the  United  States,  as  their  state 
papers,  which  were  before  the  world,  would  show.  It  had 
been  asserted,  and  successfully  asserted,  in  relation  to 
another  great  river  of  the  American  continent,  flowing  to 
the  South,  the  Mississippi,  at  a  time  when  both  of  its  lower 
banks  were  under  the  dominion  of  a  foreign  power.  The 
essential  principles  that  had  governed  the  one  case  were 
now  applicable  to  the  other. 

My  reply  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  British  Plenipotenti 
aries.  They  combatted  the  claim  with  increased  earnest 
ness,  declaring  that  it  was  altogether  untenable,  and  of  a 
nature  to  be  totally  and  unequivocally  rejected.  Instead  of 
having  the  sanction  of  public  law,  the  law  and  the  practice 
of  nations  equally  disclaimed  it.  Could  I  show  where  was 
to  be  found  in  either,  the  least  warrant  for  its  assertion  ? 
Was  it  not  a  claim  plainly  inconsistent  with  the  paramount 
authority  and  exclusive  possession  of  Great  Britain  ?  Could 
she,  for  one  moment  listen  to  it  ? 

I  remarked,  that  the  claim  had  been  put  forward  by  the 
.United  States  because  of  the  great  national  interests  involved 
in  it ;  yet,  that  this  consideration,  high  as  it  was,  would 
never  be  looked  at  but  in  connection  with  the  just  rights  of 
Great  Britain.  For  this  course  of  proceeding,  both  the 
principles  and  practice  of  my  government  might  well  be 
taken  as  the  guarantee.  The  claim  was,  therefore,  far  from 
being  put  forward  in  any  unfriendly  spirit,  and  would  be 


540  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

subject  to  a  frank  and  full  interchange  of  sentiments  between 
the  two  governments.  I  was  obviously  bound,  I  admitted, 
to  make  known,  on  behalf  of  mine,  the  grounds  on  which 
the  claim  was  advanced  a  duty  which  I  would  not  fail  to 
perform.  I  stated  that  we  considered  our  right  to  the  navi 
gation  of  this  river,  as  strictly  a  natural  right.  This  was 
the  firm  foundation  on  which  it  would  be  placed. 

This  was  the  light  in  which  it  was  defensible  on  the  highest 
authorities  no  less  than  on  the  soundest  principles.  If, 
indeed,  it  had  ever  heretofore  been  supposed  that  the  posses 
sion  of  both  the  shores  of  a  river  below,  had  conferred  the 
right  of  interdicting  the  navigation  of  it  to  the  people  of  other 
nations  inhabiting  its  upper  banks,  the  examination  of  such 
a  principle  would  at  once  disclose  the  objections  to  it.  The 
exclusive  right  of  jurisdiction  over  a  river  could  only  origi 
nate  in  the  social  compact,  and  be  claimed  as  a  right  of 
sovereignty.  The  right  of  navigating  the  river  was  a  right 
of  nature,  anterior  in  point  of  time,  and  which  the  mere 
sovereign  right  of  one  nation  could  not  annihilate  as  belong 
ing  to  the  people  of  another.  It  was  a  right  essential  to  the 
condition  and  wants  of  human  society,  and  conformable  to 
the  voice  of  mankind  in  all  ages  and  countries.  The  princi 
ple  on  which  it  rested,  challenged  such  universal  assent,  that, 
wherever  it  had  not  been  allowed,  it  might  be  imputed  to 
the  triumph  of  power  or  injustice  over  right.  Its  recovery 
and  exercise  had  still  been  objects  precious  among  nations, 
and  it  was  happily  acquiring  fresh  sanction  from  the  highest 
examples  of  modern  times.  The  parties  to  the  European 
Alliance  had,  in  the  treaties  of  Vienna,  declared  that  the 
navigation  of  the  Rhine,  the  Necker,  the  Mayne,  the  Moselle, 
the  Maes,  and  the  Scheldt,  should  be  free  to  all  nations. 
The  object  of  these  stipulations  was  as  evident  as  praise 
worthy.  It  could  have  been  no  other  than  to  render  the 
navigation  of  those  rivers  free  to  all  the  people  dwelling 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  541 

upon  their  banks  ;  thus  abolishing  those  unjust  restrictions 
by  which  the  people  of  the  interior  of  Germany  had  been 
too  often  deprived  of  their  natural  outlet  to  the  sea,  by  an 
abuse  of  that  right  of  sovereignty  which  claimed  for  a  state, 
happening  to  possess  both  the  shores  of  a  river  at  its  mouth, 
the  exclusive  property  over  it.  There  was  no  principle  of 
national  law  upon  which  the  stipulations  of  the  above 
treaties  could  be  founded,  which  did  not  equally  apply  to 
the  case  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  thus  that  I  opened 
our  general  doctrine.  It  was  from  such  principles  that  I 
deduced  our  right  to  navigate  this  river,  independent  of  the 
mere  favor  or  concession  of  Great  Britain,  and,  consequently, 
independent  of  any  claim  on  her  side  to  an  equivalent. 

I  abstain  from  any  further  recapitulation  to  you  of  the 
principles  which  I  invoked,  or  of  the  authorities  to  which  I 
referred,  for  a  reason  to  be  now  mentioned.  It  will  be  seen 
by  the  first  protocol,  that  our  agreement  had  been  to  carry 
on  the  negotiation  by  conference  and  protocol.  This,  the 
more  usual  mode  at  all  times,  was  conceived  to  be  pecu 
liarly  appropriate,  where  the  subjects  to  be  handled  were 
so  various,  and  their  details,  in  some  instances,  so  extensive. 
It  was  recommended,  also,  and  this  was  of  higher  sway 
with  me,  by  the  example  of  the  negotiation  of  1818,  in  the 
course  of  which,  some  of  the  same  subjects  had  been  dis 
cussed  with  this  Government.  Nevertheless,  each  party 
had  reserved,  under  this  agreement,  the  right  of  annexing 
to  the  protocol  any  written  statement  that  might  be  consid 
ered  necessary,  as  matter  either  of  record  or  of  explanation. 
In  your  instructions  to  me  respecting  this  claim  to  the  navi 
gation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  a  question  wholly  new,  as 
between  the  two  nations,  you  had  adverted  to  my  present 
ing  it  in  writing,  if  necessary,  and  I  determined  under  all 
the  circumstances,  that  I  should  not  properly  come  up  to 
my  duty,  unless  by  adopting  this  mode.  The  question  was 

46 


542  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

not  only  new,  but  of  the  greatest  moment.  I  saw,  also, 
from  the  beginning,  that  it  would  encounter  the  most  de 
cided  opposition  from  Great  Britain.  In  proportion  as  her 
Plenipotentiaries  became  explicit  and  peremptory  in  deny 
ing  it,  did  it  occur  to  me  that  it  would  be  proper  on  my  part 
to  be  unequivocal  in  its  assertion.  This  could  be  best  done 
upon  paper.  This  would  carry  the  claim  distinctly  to  the 
archives  of  this  Government,  rather  than  trust  it  to  founda 
tions  more  uncertain  and  fugitive.  It  would  explain,  as 
well  as  record,  the  sense  in  which  it  was  inserted  on  the 
protocol.  Another  motive  with  me  for  this  course,  and 
scarcely  a  secondary  one,  was,  that  it  would  serve  to  draw 
from  Great  Britain,  in  the  same  form,  a  precise  and  full 
avowal  of  the  grounds  on  which  she  designed  to  oppose 
the  claim.  On  a  question  so  large,  and  which,  from  all 
that  I  perceived  to  mark  its  first  opening  between  the  two 
Governments,  could  hardly  fail  to  come  under  discussion 
again  hereafter,  it  appeared  to  me  that  it  would  be  more 
acceptable  to  my  Government  to  be  in  possession  of  a  writ 
ten  document,  which  should  embody  the  opinions  of  this 
Government,  than  to  take  the  report  of  them  from  me  under 
any  form  less  exact  and  authentic. 

I  accordingly  drew  up  a  paper  upon  the  subject,  which, 
under  the  right  reserved,  I  annexed  (marked  B)  to  the  pro 
tocol  of  the  eighteenth  conference,  and  so  it  stands  amongst 
the  papers  of  the  negotiation.  The  British  Plenipotenti 
aries  continued  to  urge  their  animated  protests  against  this 
proceeding  on  my  part;  not  that  they  could  divest  me  of  my 
privilege  of  recording  my  sentiments  in  the  shape  of  this 
written  statement,  but  that  they  earnestly  pressed  the  pro 
priety  of  my  abandoning  altogether,  any  claim  to  the  navi 
gation  of  this  river,  as  a  claim  of  right,  which  shut  them  out 
from  treating  of  it  upon  other  basis.  But  having  taken  my 
determination,  under  other  estimates  of  my  duty,  I  did  riot 
depart  from  it. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  543 

The  paper  which  I  drew  up,  aimed  at  presenting  a  broad 
but  intelligible  outline  of  the  principal  reasons  in  support  of 
our  claim.  These  were  such  as  you  had  set  before  me,  and 
as  I  judged  to  be  immediately  deducible  from  them.  Under 
the  latter,  I  included  the  argument  on  the  Mississippi  ques 
tion,  used  by  an  illustrious  individual,  then  the  organ  of  our 
Government  in  its  intercourse  with  foreign  states.*  I  consid 
ered  this  argument  as  virtually  comprehended  in  your  in 
structions,  by  the  reference  which  they  contained  to  it,  the 
questions  in  both  cases,  so  far  as  each  drew  support  from  the 
deep  foundations  of  the  law  of  nature,  being  the  same.  Of 
this  luminous  state  paper  I  followed  the  track,  adopting  its 
own  language  wherever  this  could  be  done,  as  the  safest,  the 
most  approved,  the  most  national.  The  only  view  of  the 
subject  not  elicited  on  that  occasion,  was  one  pointed  out 
by  the  locality  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  I  will  briefly  explain 
this,  as  I  presented  it  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries. 

The  exclusive  right  possessed  by  Great  Britain  over  both 
banks  of  this  river,  was  won  for  her  by  the  cooperation  of 
the  people  who  now  form  the  United  States.  Their  exer 
tions,  their  treasure,  their  blood,  were  profusely  embarked 
in  every  campaign  of  the  old  French  war.  It  was  under 
this  name  that  the  recollection  of  that  war  still  lived  in  the 
United  States,  a  war  which,  but  for  the  aid  of  New  Eng 
land,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  if  of  no  more  of  the 
states,  would  probably  not  have  terminated  when  it  did,  in 
the  conquest  of  Canada  from  France.  If  these  states  were, 
at  that  epoch,  a  part  of  the  colonial  empire  of  Britain,  it 
was  nevertheless  impossible  to  obliterate  the  recollection  of 
historical  facts,  or  exclude  the  inferences  that  would  attach 
to  them.  The  predecessors  of  the  present  inhabitants  of 
those  states,  had  borne  a  constant  and  heavy  burden  in  that 
war,  and  had  acquired  simultaneously  with  the  then  parent 
state,  the  right  of  descending  this  stream,  on  the  hypothesis, 

*  Mr.  Jefferson. 


544  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

assumed  for  the  moment,  of  their  not  having  possessed  it 
before;  a  right  of  peculiar  importance  to  them,  from  their 
local  position  and  necessities.  It  was  to  this  effect  that  I 
noticed  a  title  hy  joint  acquisition,  as  also  susceptible  of 
being  adduced  for  the  United  States  to  the  navigation  of 
this  river.  There  was  at  least  a  strong  national  equity  in 
it,  which  would  come  home  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  impressing  them  with  new  convictions  of  the  hard 
ship  of  now  refusing  them  the  use  of  this  stream  as  an  inno 
cent  pathway  to  the  ocean.  But,  as  I  had  not  your  eluci 
dations  of  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  was  careful  to  use  it 
only  in  subordination  to  the  argument  of  natural  right. 
The  latter  I  treated  as  sufficient  in  itself  to  make  out  our 
title,  and  repudiated  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  any  other. 
I  will  own,  however,  that  my  disposition  to  confide  in  the 
argument  founded  upon  joint  acquisition,  was  increased  by 
the  analogy  which  it  appeared  to  me  to  bear  to  the  course 
of  reasoning  pursued  with  Great  Britain  by  my  immediate 
predecessor  in  this  mission  in  relation  to  the  fisheries.*  If 
our  title  to  a  full  participation  with  Britain  in  the  fisheries, 
though  they  were  within  the  acknowledged  limits  and  juris 
diction  of  the  coasts  of  British  America,  was  strengthened  by 
the  fact  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  having 
been  among  the  foremost  to  explore  and  use  the  fishing 
grounds,  why  was  the  analogous  fact  of  their  having  assist 
ed  to  expel  the  French  from  the  lower  shores  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  be  of  no  avail?  I  had  believed  in  the  applica 
tion  and  force  of  the  argument  in  the  one  instance,  and  could 
not  deny  it  all  the  consideration  that  it  merited  in  the  other. 
The  necessity  of  my  recounting  to  you  the  British  argu 
ment  in  answer  to  our  claim  is  superseded  by  my  being 
able  to  transmit  it  to  you  in  their  own  words  upon  paper. 

*  John  Quincy  Adams,  to  whom,  as   Secretary  of  State,  the  above  dis 
patch  was  addressed. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  545 

It  is  sufficiently  elaborate,  and  was  drawn  up  with  great 
deliberation.  It  is  annexed  (marked  N)  to  the  protocol  of 
the  twenty-fourth  conference.  The  intention  avowed  by 
the  British  Plenipotentiaries  at  the  nineteenth  conference,  of 
obtaining  for  its  doctrines  before  it  was  delivered  to  me,  the 
full  sanction  of  their  highest  professional  authorities  on 
matters  relating  to  the  law  of  nations,  may  serve  to  show 
the  "  gravity  and  importance,"  to  repeat  their  own  expres 
sion,  which  the  question  had  assumed  in  their  eyes.  I  have 
otherwise  reasons  for  supposing  that  their  argument  was 
prepared  under  the  advice  and  assistance  of  five  of  the  most 
eminent  publicists  of  England.*  With  all  the  respect  due 
to  a  paper  matured  under  such  auspices,  and  admitting  its 
ability,  I  cannot  regard  it  as  impugning  the  argument  which 
under  your  direction,  and  following  the  course  of  others  be 
fore  me,  as  well  as  taking  such  new  views  as  the  subject 
suggested,  I  had  become  the  organ  of  making  known  on 
behalf  of  the  United  States. 

In  several  instances,  the  British  paper  has  appealed  to 
the  same  authorities  that  are  to  be  found  in  mine.  It  is  in 
the  application  of  them  only  that  the  difference  is  seen.  In 
other  parts,  the  difference  is  made  to  turn  upon  words  rather 
than  substance.  But  an  error  that  runs  throughout  nearly 
the  whole  of  their  paper,  consists  in  attributing  to  mine  a 
meaning  which  does  not  belong  to  it.  This  applies  espe 
cially  to  the  particular  description  of  right  which  we  claim, 
how  far  it  is  one  of  mere  innocent  utility;  how  far  a  right 
necessary  to  us,  and  not  injurious  to  Britain;  how  far  a 
right  which,  if  not  falling  under  the  technical  designation  of 
"  absolute,"  is,  nevertheless,  one  that  cannot  be  withheld — 
these  are  all  qualifications  that  were  not  overlooked  in  my 
exposition  of  the  doctrine ;  a  light,  however,  in  which  the 

*  Lord  Stowcll,  Sir  Christopher  Robinson,  Dr.  Lushington,  Dr.  Adam,  and 
Dr.  Phillhnore ;  and  that  it  was  also  submitted  to  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon. 

46* 


546  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

British  paper  does  not  appear  to  have  regarded  it.  But  as 
each  document  is  now  of  record,  and  will  be  judged  by  the 
terms  which  it  has  used,  and  the  construction  that  justly 
attaches  to  them,  I  will  not  enlarge  upon  this  head. 

The  British  paper  aims  at  showing  the  indefensible  na 
ture  of  our  claim,  by  dealing  with  it  as  standing  upon  like 
footing  with  a  claim  to  the  use  of  the  roads,  canals,  or 
other  artificial  ways  of  a  country ;  forgetting  that  the  case  in 
dispute  is  that  of  a  natural  stream  forming  the  only  natural 
outlet  to  the  ocean,  the  stream  itself  being  common  by  na 
ture  to  both  countries.  Commenting  upon  the  acquired 
title  of  the  United  States,  which  I  had  put  forward  under 
the  restriction  described,  their  paper  argues  that  the  same 
ground  would  justify  a  correlative  claim  by  Great  Britain 
to  the  use  of  the  navigable  rivers  and  all  other  public  pos 
sessions  of  the  United  States,  which  existed  when  both 
countries  were  united  under  a  common  government !  By  a 
like  misapplication  of  principles  I  had  used,  it  argues  that 
our  claim  would  also  justify  Britain  in  asking  a  passage 
down  the  Mississippi  or  the  Hudson,  though  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  touch  any  portion  of  the  British  territories ;  or 
that  it  might  equally  justify  a  claim  on  her  side  to  ascend, 
with  British  vessels,  the  principal  rivers  of  the  United 
States,  as  far  as  their  draft  of  water  would  admit,  instead  of 
depositing  their  cargoes  at  the  appointed  ports  of  entry  from 
the  sea !  On  doctrines  such  as  these,  I  could  only  say  to 
the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  that  I  was  wholly  unable  to 
perceive  their  application  to  the  argument,  unless  the  United 
States  had  been  advancing  a  claim  to  the  navigation  of  the 
river  Thames  in  England. 

Their  argument,  also,  assumes  that  the  treaty  stipulations 
of  1794,  exclude  all  idea  of  a  right,  on  our  side,  to  the  navi 
gation  of  this  river;  forgetting  that  if,  under  those  stipula 
tions,  vessels  of  the  United  States  were  interdicted  the  navi 
gation  of  British  rivers,  between  their  mouths  and  the  highest 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  547 

port  of  entry  from  the  sea,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  British 
vessels  were  interdicted  the  navigation  of  the  rivers  of  the 
United  States,  beyond  the  highest  ports  of  entry  from  the 
sea;  and,  also,  that  the  whole  terms  of  the  international  in 
tercourse  in  that  quarter,  were,  by  this  compact,  such  as,  at 
the  time,  satisfied  both  parties,  without  impairing  the  rights 
which  either  possessed,  independent  of  the  compact,  and 
which  only  remained  in  suspense  during  its  existence.  This 
observation  suggests  another,  to  which  their  argument  is 
open  in  parts  which  they  press  as  of  decisive  weight.  It 
alleges,  that,  because,  by  the  general  treaty  of  Vienna,  the 
powers  whose  states  were  crossed  by  the  same  navigable 
rivers,  engaged  to  regulate,  by  common  consent,  all  that  re 
garded  their  navigation  ;  because  Russia  held,  by  treaty,  the 
navigation  of  the  Black  Sea;  and  because  of  the  many  in 
stances  capable  of  being  cited,  where  the  navigation  of 
rivers  or  straits,  which  separated  or  flowed  through  the  terri 
tories  of  different  countries,  was  expressly  provided  for,  by 
treaty;  that,  because  of  these  facts,  the  inference  was  irre 
sistible  that  the  right  of  navigation,  under  such  circum 
stances,  depended  upon  common  consent,  and  could  only  be 
claimed  by  treaty.  Here,  too,  it  seems  to  have  been  for 
gotten,  that  it  is  allowable  in  treaties,  as  well  as  oftentimes 
expedient,  for  greater  safety  and  precision,  to  enter  into 
stipulations  for  the  enjoyment  or  regulation  of  pre-existing 
rights  ;  that  treaties  are,  in  fact,  expressly  declared,  by  the 
writers  upon  the  laws  of  nations,  to  be  of  two  general  kinds, 
those  which  turn  on  things  to  which  we  are  already  bound 
by  the  law  of  nature,  and  those  by  which  we  engage  to  do 
something  more.  In  their  quotation,  also,  of  the  note  from 
the  first  volume  of  the  laws  of  Congress,  containing  an  inti 
mation  that  the  United  States  could  not  be  expected  to  yield 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  without  an  equivalent, 
they  seem  wholly  to  have  overlooked,  besides  the  other 


548  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

t 
points  of  that  note,  that  it  was  made  at  a  period  when  it 

was  well  known  that  no  part  of  that  river  touched  the  terri 
tories  of  a  foreign  power }  and  when,  therefore  its  exclusive 
navigation  belonged  to  the  United  States,  as  much  so  as  the 
Delaware  or  the  Potomac. 

The  foregoing  are  some  of  the  remarks  upon  the  British 
paper,  which  I  submitted  at  the  conference  after  receiving 
it.  The  first  impressions  that  I  had  of  my  duty  in  regard  to 
it,  and  consequently  my  first  determination,  was,  to  reply  to 
it  at  large  in  writing,  annexing  my  reply  to  the  protocol. 
But,  on  more  reflection,  I  deemed  it  most  proper  to  abstain, 
at  present,  from  this  step.  As  a  view  of  the  whole  subject 
given  out  under  the  immediate  eye  and  authority  of  this 
Government,  and  with  extraordinary  care,  it  appeared  to 
me  that  the  British  paper  ought  to  come  under  the  know 
ledge  of  my  own  Government,  before  receiving  a  formal  or 
full  answer  from  any  source  less  high.  If  it  be  thought  to 
require  such  an  answer,  a  short  delay  could  be  nothing  to 
the  advantage  of  its  being  afforded,  either  through  me  or 
my  successor  in  this  mission,  under  the  light  of  further  in 
structions  from  home.  The  pause  seemed  the  more  due, 
not  only  from  the  newness  of  the  discussion  between  the 
two  Governments,  but  because  I  may  not,  at  this  moment, 
be  sufficiently  apprized  of  all  the  modifications  under  which 
mine  may  desire  it  to  be  presented  in  a  second  and  more 
full  argument.  I  hope  that  this  forbearance  on  my  part  will 
be  approved,  as  having  been,  under  the  exigency,  the  most 
circumspect  and  becoming  course.  I  gave  the  British  Pleni 
potentiaries  to  understand,  that  <he  written  argument  on  the 
side  of  the  United  States  must  not  be  considered  as  closed, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  only  as  opened. 

Finally,  in  coming  to  a  conclusion  on  the  general  subject 
of  our  commercial  intercourse  with  the  British  West  Indies 
and  their  North  American  colonies,  whether  by  the  way  of 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  549 

the  ocean  or  the  St.  Lawrence,  it  may  be  proper  in  me  to 
recapitulate  what  I  take  to  be  the  present  determinations 
of  this  Government  in  regard  to  it,  at  all  points. 

1.  They  will  not  give  up  the  duty  of  four  shillings  and 
three  pence  sterling  per  ton  imposed  upon  our  vessels  by  the 
order  in  council  of  July,  1823. 

2.  They  will  enter  into  no  convention  or  arrangement 
with  us  which  does  not  recognize  the  principle  embraced  in 
the  first  article  of  their  counter-projet  annexed  in  the  six 
teenth  protocol.     I  mean  that  which  goes  to  place  our  pro 
duce  imported  into  their  islands  upon  the  same  footing  in 
respect  of  duties  as  the  like  produce  imported  into  them 
from  any  other  foreign  country.     This  term  they  adhere 
to,  on  the  avowed  principle  of  protecting  and  encouraging 
the  produce  of  their  own   colonial  possessions  in   North 
America. 

3.  They  will  not  abolish  the  duties  specified  in  schedule 
C  of  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the  24th  of  June,  1822,  or 
those  specified   in   schedule  B  of  .the   act   of   the  5th  of 
August,  1822. 

4.  They  totally  deny  our  right  to  the  navigation  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  declaring  that  they  cannot  treat  of  the  sub 
ject  upon  such  a  basis. 

5.  They  will  be  willing  to  repeal  entirely,  if  not  already 
done,  all  duties  or  charges  whatever,  whether  imposed  by 
act  of  Parliament,  growing  out  of  colonial  laws  or  usages, 
or  in  whatsoever  manner  existing,  which  go  to  subject  ves 
sels  of  the  United  States  to  any  burden  not  common  to 
British  vessels  ;  the  repeal  to  extend  to  all  the  enumerated 
ports,  without  exception. 

6.  Though  stating  that  they  are  not  satisfied  with  the 
trade  on  its  present  footing,  they  are  willing  that  it  should 
have  a  further  experiment ;  that  is,  to  let  it  go  on,  the  United 
States  retaining  their  foreign  tonnage  duty,  and  additional 


550  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

impost  often  per  cent.,  and  Great  Britain  retaining  her  ton 
nage  duty  of  July,  1823,  and  also  an  additional  impost  of 
ten  per  cent. 

The  protocols  which  have  reference  to  the  different 
branches  of  this  whole  subject  are,  the  third,  the  ninth,  the 
fifteenth,  the  sixteenth,  the  seventeenth,  the  eighteenth,  the 
nineteenth,  the  twenty-fourth  and  the  twenty-fifth.  I  pass 
to  another  subject. 

II.  BOUNDARY  LINE  UNDER  THE  FIFTH  ARTICLE  OF  THE 
TREATY  OF  GHENT.  This  subject  was,  throughout,  coupled 
by  the  British  plenipotentiaries  with  the  subject,  the  discus 
sions  respecting  which,  I  have  just  been  detailing,  viz.  the 
navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Their  reasons  for  this  course 
will  be  seen  presently,  though  I  did  not  acquiesce  in  their 
validity.  I  brought  the  subject  before  them  by  stating  from 
the  treaty  of  Ghent  the  duties  which,  under  its  fifth  article, 
were  to  have  been  performed  by  the  commissioners  of  the 
two  countries,  in  relation  to  this  long  unsettled  boundary. 
I  brought  into  view,  from  your  instructions  of  the  25th  of 
June,  1823,  the  many  and  essential  points  upon  which  the 
commissioners  had  differed  ;  1st.  upon  where  the  northwest 
angle  of  Nova  Scotia  was  situated  ;  2d.  upon  what  was  the 
northwesternmost  head  of  Connecticut  river ;  3d.  upon 
the  meaning  of  the  words  in  the  old  treaty  of  1783,  "along 
the  highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  them 
selves  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall 
into  the  Atlantic  ocean ;"  4th.  upon  the  admission  of  the 
general  maps  respectively  presented  by  the  agents  of  the 
two  Governments,  each  objecting  to  the  correctness  of  that 
presented  by  the  other,  and  pressing  for  the  reception  of  his 
own  ;  5th.  upon  a  proposal  by  the  British  Commissioner  to 
send  out  surveyors  to  ascertain  the  correctness  of  the  former 
surveys  in  regard  to  the  points  objected  to  in  the  maps  pre 
sented  by  the  agents;  6th.  upon  a  demand  made  by  the 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  551 

British  agent  to  examine  upon  oath  the  surveyors  who 
made  the  maps,  with  regard  to  their  correctness :  7th.  upon 
the  reception  and  entering  upon  the  journals  of  a  memorial 
of  the  British  agent,  containing  a  statement  of  one  of  the 
British  surveyors,  relating  to  the  maps  presented  by  the 
agents ;  and  8th.  upon  the  reception  of  a  written  motion  by 
the  British  agent  requesting  leave  to  exhibit  a  memorial 
containing  statements  of  the  British  surveyors  relating  to 
the  maps,  and  that  the  same  might  be  entered  on  the  jour 
nals.  There  were  still  other  points  upon  which  the  Com 
missioners  had  differed,  but  the  foregoing,  as  it  was  plain  to 
see,  embraced  the  chief  ones.  Neither  of  the  two  points, 
viz.  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  the  northwest  angle  of 
Nova  Scotia,  or  the  northwesternmost  head  of  Connecticut 
river,  the  ascertaining  of  which  had  been  the  great  object 
of  the  commission,  having  been  fixed,  it  had  become  impos 
sible,  I  remarked,  for  the  Commissioners  to  agree  upon  the 
map  and  declaration,  which,  by  the  stipulations  of  the 
treaty  of  Ghent,  were  conclusively  to  have  determined  the 
boundary,  and  that,  consequently,  there  was  now  no  such 
map;  whilst,  to  aggravate  this  difficulty,  the  general  map 
produced  by  each  side  had  been  totally  discredited  by  the 
other. 

I  then  recited  those  parts  of  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  under  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  correspond 
ing  clauses  of  the  fourth  article,  provision  is  made  for  carry 
ing  the  differences  of  the  commissioners,  in  case  they  failed 
to  arrange  this  boundary,  before  some  friendly  sovereign  for 
his  decision;  but  added,  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  instead  of  adopting  this  course,  desired  to  attempt  a 
settlement  of  those  differences  by  direct  negotiation  between 
the  two  countries,  as  heretofore  proposed  by  the  United 
States,  and  acceded  to  by  Great  Britain.  Having  thus 
opened  our  plan,  I  proceeded  to  expatiate  on  the  topics  en- 


552  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          1824.] 

larged  upon  in  your  dispatch  towards  its  elucidation  and 
support.     I  pointed  to  the  formidable  embarrassments  which 
surrounded  the  subject  on  all  sides,  in  its  present  actual  state, 
regarded  as  one  to  be  settled  by  an  umpirage ;  to  the  ne 
cessity  which  would  be  devolved  upon  the  sovereign,  of  de 
ciding  upon  a  boundary  of  at  least  six  hundred  miles  in  ex 
tent,  through  a  half  discovered  country,  which  the  parties 
themselves,  after  six  years  of  laborious  investigation,  had 
altogether  failed  to  fix,  assisted  too,  as  they  had  been,  by 
able  surveyors,  geographers,  astronomers,  and  agents  ;  to 
the  various  questions   of  construction  of  ancient  charters, 
treaties,  and  proclamations,  into  which  he  would  have  to 
travel ;  to  the  controversies  between  France  and  England, 
prior  to  the  session  of  Canada  to  the  latter,  with  which  he 
must  become  familiar ;  and  to  the  immense  volume  of  docu 
ments  produced  by  the  labors-,  scientific,  argumentative,  or 
practical,  of  the  commissioners,  and  those  who  acted  in  co 
operation  with  them,  which  he  would  have  to  peruse.     I 
forbear  to  go  further  with  a  recapitulation  of  the  difficulties, 
as  I  omitted  none  that  your  dispatch  had  laid  before  me  ; 
and,  above  all,  did  not  omit  to  state,  that,  to  the  appalling 
train  of  them  would  be  added,  that  of  the  sovereign  having 
to  choose  between  maps  that  had  alike  been  discredited  by 
both  parties.     It  was  to  avoid  all  these  difficulties,  and  the 
uncertain  results  that  might,  and  probably  would,  hang  upon 
them,  if  the  differences  were  carried  before  an  arbitrator,  that 
my  Government  had  charged  me,  I  said,  with  the   duty  of 
now  submitting,  in  a  distinct  and  formal  manner,  the  pro 
posal  for  settling  them  by  direct  negotiation.     This  proposal 
I  accordingly  prepared  and  offered,  in  the  shape  of  a  written 
article,  [marked  D]  annexed  to  the  protocol  of  the  ninth 
conference.     The  article,  after  reciting,  that  the  Commis 
sioners  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  for  as 
certaining  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  the  northwest  angle 


1824.]  COURT   OF  -LONDON.  553 

of  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  north  westernmost  head  of  Connec 
ticut  river,  and  for  surveying  that  part  of  the  boundary  line 
between  the  dominions  of  the  two  powers,  which  extends 
from  the  source  of  the  river  St.  Croix,  directly  north,  to  the 
above  northwest  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  (and  so  on,  pursuing 
the  words  of  the  treaty,)  had  not  been  able  to  agree,  and 
also  reciting,  that  it  was  the  desire  of  the  parties,  instead  of 
referring  their  differences  to  the  arbitration  of  a  sovereign, 
as  provided  by  the  treaty,  to  endeavour  to  settle  them  by 
negotiation  between  themselves,  went  on  to  stipulate,  that 
the  parties  would  accordingly  negotiate  on  them,  at  Wash- 
ton  ;  and  further,  that  in  the  course  of  such  negotiation, 
they  would  receive,  if  necessary,  the  maps  that  had  been 
respectively  submitted  and  used  by  the  commissioners  of 
each  nation,  but  that  none  that  had  been  used  on  the  one 
side,  should  be  received  or  used  to  the  exclusion  of  those 
used  on  the  other.  Such  were  the  terms  of  my  proposal, 
which  I  trust  will  be  thought  to  have  embodied,  with  suffi 
cient  care,  your  directions  in  relation  to  this  subject. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  after  hearing  my  proposal, 
and  the  reasons  that  had  been  given  in  its  support,  though 
not  accepting  it,  did  not  object  to  the  principle  of  compro 
mise.  They  declared,  however,  that  if  ever  they  did  enter 
into  any  regular  agreement  to  settle  the  question  by  negotia 
tion  or  compromise,  it  must  in  their  view,  contain  a  clause 
that,  this  mode  of  settlement  failing,  that  by  arbitration, 
under  the  treaty  was  still  to  be  retained  as  the  right  of  the 
parties.  They  expressed  their  concurrence  in  opinion  as  to 
the  difficulty  which  there  might  be  in  submitting  differences 
of  such  scope  and  complication  to  the  arbitration  of  a  sove 
reign,  and  wished,  if  practicable,  to  avoid  resorting  to  this 
plan.  What  they  desired,  under  present  circumstances,  was, 
that  Great  Britain  should  be  allowed  to  settle  the  several 
disputed  points  which  had  arisen  under  the  fifth  article  of 

47 


554  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

the  treaty  of  Ghent,  by  going  into  them  on  principles  of  mu 
tual  concession,  in  connexion  with  the,  claim  of  the.  United 
States  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Laivrence.  They  dis 
tinctly  submitted  this  proposal  to  me,  which,  however,  was 
not  given  in  writing,  further  than  as  it  will  be  seen  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  protocols. 

To  this  proposal  I  made  immediate  objections,  as  both 
new  and  unexpected.  I  admitted  no  connexion  between 
the  two  subjects.  How  could  I  consent  to  treat  of  them 
conjointly,  on  the  basis  of  mutual  concession,  when  the 
United  States  expressly  claimed  the  right  of  navigating  this 
river,  independent  of  all  concession  ?  The  subjects  were 
distinct,  and  would  not,  I  expressed  a  hope,  be  coupled  by 
the  intervention  of  a  principle  wholly  alien  to  the  one,  and 
not  admitted  by  my  Government  to  have  any  application  to 
the  other. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries, always  renewing  their  point 
ed  denials  of  our  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Law 
rence,  said,  that  they  had  coupled  these  subjects  because  of 
their  affinity  under  the  general  head  of  boundary,  some  of 
the  disputed  points  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent  being,  as  to  locality,  contiguous  to  that  part  of 
the  St  Lawrence  which  flows  through  the  British  terri 
tories.  This  was  one  of  their  reasons.  Another  and 
stronger  one  was,  that  they  were  prepared  to  make  offers, 
which  they  would  describe,  as  founded  upon  a  most  liberal 
and  comprehensive  view  of  the  wishes  and  interests  of  the 
United  States,  in  relation  to  the  differences  under  the  fifth 
article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  in  connexion  with  offers  of  the 
same  character,  in  relation  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Law 
rence,  provided  we  were  prepared  to  treat  of  the  latter  on 
the  footing  of  concession  by  Great  Britain.  By  having  both 
the  questions  under  our  hands  at  the  same  time,  they  urged 
the  greater  probability  of  our  being  able  to  settle  both,  and 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  555 

expressed  their  belief  that,  by  thus  multiplying  the  materials 
of  compromise,  we  might  arrive  at  a  speedy  and  satisfactory 
arrangement  on  both  subjects.  They  therefore  hoped  that 
I  would  accede  to  their  wish  of  coupling  these  two  subjects 
together  in  the  manner  that  they  proposed. 

I  repeated  my  objections  to  their  proposal ;  declaring  that 
my  instructions  did  not  permit  me  to  hesitate  a  moment  in 
rejecting  it.  The  boundary  question  was  one  that  stood 
upon  its  own  foundation.  No  other  had  been  coupled  with 
it  by  rny  Government,  and  I  could  not  consent  to  treat  of  it 
with  any  other,  where  the  connexion  was  confessedly  to 
impair  the  equal  ground  of  the  United  States  as  soon  as  the 
principal  of  compromise  was  admitted.  The  boundary 
question,  too,  besides  being  detached  and  independent,  was 
in  its  nature,  peculiarly  ample.  The  materials  of  comprom 
ise  existed  within  its  own  limits,  rendering  it  unnecessary 
therefore  to  seek  in  a  new  subject  what  was  already  at  hand. 
The  association  of  another  subject  with  it,  and  that  subject 
the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  would  be  open  to 
the  danger  of  producing  further  collisions,  full  as  much 
perhaps  as  any  enhanced  prospect  of  an  easy  arrangement- 
Besides,  I  remarked,  was  the  agreement  heretofore  signified 
by  Great  Britain  to  attempt  the  settlement  of  this  question 
of  boundary  by  direct  communication  between  the  two 
Governments,  without  the  association  of  any  other  with'  it 
being  at  that  period  so  much  as  thought  of, — was  this  to  be 
overlooked?  Here  I  recalled  to  the  British  Plenipotentia 
ries  what  had  passed  between  Lord  Londonderry  and  myself 
upon  this  question,  and  at  a  subsequent  conference  I  read 
to  them  those  parts  of  my  dispatches  of  February  the  llth, 
and  April  the  6th,  1822,  which  detailed  it  to  you.  It  was 
in  this  manner  that  I  met  the  proposal  of  joining  the  two 
subjects  upon  the  terms  intimated. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  repeating  their  opinion  that 


556  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

the  junction  would  be  likely  to  accomplish  results  satisfactory 
to  both  sides,  said,  that  they  had  neither  the  desire  nor 
intention  of  overlooking  any  past  agreement  upon  this  sub 
ject  with  which  their  Government  might  be  chargeable. 
They  then  asked  whether,  in  case  they  were  willing  to  go 
at  once  into  the  boundary  question,  as  one  by  itself,  I  was 
prepared  to  make  to  them  any  specific  offer  for  a  settle 
ment.  I  replied  that  I  was  not.  My  Government  had 
not  looked  to  a  settlement  of  the  question  here  at  the 
present  moment,  by  any  offers  to  be  made  through  me. 
Nor  had  it  at  any  time  contemplated  the  submitting  of  offers 
merely  to  be  accepted  or  rejected  by  this  Government,  but 
only  to  be  received  on  the  principle  of  negotiating,  and  it 
was  to  secure  a  negotiation  upon  the  entire  subject,  that 
I  had  drawn  up  the  article  that  had  been  given  to  them.  I 
had  occasion  to  perceive,  that  the  British  Plenipotentiaries 
reverted  to  the  same  construction  of  their  acceptance  hereto 
fore  of  our  proposal  of  attempting  an  adjustment  by  direct 
communication,  as  that  suggested  to  you  by  the  British 
Minister  in  Washington.  They  did  not  appear  to  consider 
that  it  charged  this  Government  with  the  obligation  of  a 
regular  and  formal  negotiation  upon  the  point,  but  only 
with  that  of  receiving  from  us,  and  considering,  an  offer  of 
a  boundary  line  by  compromise,  which  they  still  professed 
their  readiness  to  do.  I  said  that  the  United  States  were 
not  prepared  at  present  to  make  this  offer,  to  say  nothing  of 
their  objections  to  making  it  at  all,  under  the  uncertainty  of 
whether  or  not  it  would  be  received  on  the  principle  of 
negotiating ;  and  I  labored  to  show  the  latter  to  have  been 
the  true  spirit  of  the  past  agreement.  Certainly  it  was  that, 
I  said,  in  which  it  had  been  understood  on  our  side.  But, 
under  the  turn  which  the  question  of  the  St.  Lawrence  had 
taken,  I  found  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  unwilling  to  give 
to  their  past  agreement  any  larger  meaning  than  that  to 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  557 

which  they  considered  themselves  pledged  by  their  own 
understanding  of  its  terms;  and  although  I  continued  to  the 
last  to  press  upon  them  the  acceptance  of  my  proposal,  in 
the  form  annexed  to  the  ninth  protocol,  I  was  not  able  to 
succeed. 

They  asked  whether,  in  case  they  were  to  submit  to  me 
an  offer  of  a  boundary  by  compromise,  I  was  prepared  to 
conclude  any  thing  under  such  an  offer.  To  this  too  I 
replied  that  I  was  not.  They  next  inquired,  whether  I  was 
prepared  to  conclude  arrangements  with  them  which,  in 
their  opinion,  must  accompany  any  mere  agreement  to  settle 
the  disputed  points  by  compromise.  I  answered,  that  this 
would  depend  upon  the  particular  nature  of  the  arrange 
ments.  I  had  already,  myself,  put  forward  a  formal  propo 
sal  intended  to  effectuate,  through  negotiation,  this  end.  If 
this  proposal  had  proved  objectionable  in  any  points  where 
the  option  of  modification  might  rest  with  me,  I  would 
willingly  take  into  consideration  counter-proposals  having 
in  view  the  same  end.  Understanding,  however,  that  any 
counter-proposals  from  them,  if  submitted  at  this  juncture, 
would  contain  at  least  some  allusions  to  the  question  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  I  said  that  I  would  decline  the  conclusion  of 
any  previous  arrangement  upon  the  subject. 

It  will  be  seen,  from  all  that  I  have  said,  how  constant 
and  earnest  a  desire  was  manifested  by  the  British  Plenipo 
tentiaries  to  blend  these  two  questions,  and  how  constantly 
I  felt  it  my  duty,  under  every  aspect,  to  keep  them  asunder. 
I  have  stated  also,  that,  on  the  supposition  of  their  being 
joined  together  as  elements  of  accommodation,  the  British 
plenipotentiaries  remarked,  that  they  were  prepared  to 
make  offers  founded,  (I  use  their  own  words,)  "  on  a  most 
liberal  and  comprehensive  view  of  the  wishes  and  interests 
of  the  United  States"  in  relation  to  both.  Such  a  declara 
tion  could  not  fail  to  excite  my  attention.  I  was  aware, 

47* 


558  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

indeed,  that  Britain  might  make  offers  which  she  would 
doubtless  believe  to  wear  this  character  of  benefit  to  the 
United  States,  without  the  United  States  being  laid  under  the 
same  convictions,  so  different  an  estimate  might  each  party 
form  of  what  was  its  due.    Yet,  the  expressions  were  strong, 
and  although  I  felt  that  I  could  accede  to  nothing  whatever, 
myself,  coupled  with  the  principle  of  compromise  that  had 
been  avowed,  I  nevertheless  thought  that  there  might  be  some 
propriety  in  knowing,  for  the  information  of  my  Government, 
the  nature  of  the  offers  which  professed,  and  in  terms  so 
strong,  to  bear  upon  the  interests  and  wishes  of  the  United 
States.  I  therefore  said  to  the  British  plenipotentiaries,  that  I 
should  be  glad  to  be  made  acquainted  with  them,  not  in  a  way 
pledging  this  Government  to  any  ulterior  step,  but  merely  as 
offers  that  would  have  been  made,  in  case  I  had  expressed 
a  willingness  to  receive  them  upon  the  condition  from  which 
they  were  not  to  be  severed.     They  asked,  what  progress  I 
supposed  would  be  made  towards  a  settlement  by  a  compli 
ance  on  their  part  with  my  request.     I  replied  none   at 
present,  but  that  I  would  transmit  their  offers  to  my  Govern 
ment,  in  the  light  of  an  incidental  fact  evolved  in  the  course 
of  the  negotiation ;  and,  so  far,  it   might  be   proper,  and 
possibly  useful,  that   I  should   know   them.     They   next 
asked  whether  I  could  undertake  to  give  them  any  reason 
able  assurance  that  my  Government,  on  receiving  them,  and 
finding  them  satisfactory  and  advantageous,  would  be  dis 
posed  to  take  them  into  consideration  under  their  essential 
condition  of  our  claim  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
as   a   right,  being  waved.      I  replied  that  I  was  wholly 
unauthorized  to  give  them  the  slightest  assurance  to  that 
effect.     This  closed  my  endeavours  to  obtain  a  knowledge 
of  their  offers,  which,  as  will  be  inferred,  were,  in  the  end, 
not  communicated  to  me.     In  the  course  of  the  remarks  to 
which  these  endeavours  led,  I  did  not  scruple  to  express 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  559 

the  belief  I  entertained,  that  my  Government  looked  forward 
with  a  well  grounded  and  even  confident  hope  to  the  negotia 
tion  on  the  boundary  question  alone,  terminating,  on  a 
principle  of  compromise,  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  both 
nations. 

All  attempts,  under  present  circumstances,  to  put  the 
case  into  an  effective  train  of  settlement,  either  by  direct 
offers  of  compromise,  or  by  an  agreement  to  negotiate  on 
that  principle,  having  thus  failed,  the  plan  of  arbitration 
next  presented  itself  for  consideration.  I  thought,  at  one 
time,  that  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  designed  to  press  an 
immediate  resort  to  this  plan.  I  informed  them,  in  reply  to 
their  own  inquiry,  that  I  was  prepared,  if  they  insisted  upon 
it,  to  enter  upon  the  necessary  steps  for  the  selection  of  a 
Sovereign  as  arbitrator.  I  again  dwelt,  however,  upon  the 
extreme  difficulty,  not  to  say  impossibility,  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  my  Government,  there  would  be,  under  existing 
circumstances,  in  going  on  with  an  arbitration.  How,  I 
asked,  was  it  even  to  be  begun  ?  Was  this  Government 
prepared  to  furnish  a  statement  of  the  case  proper  to  be  laid 
before  the  arbitrator,  and  which  would,  at  the  same  time, 
invite  the  concurrence  of  the  United  States?  In  regard  to 
the  first  idea,  I  reminded  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  of 
the  mutual  complaints  and  recriminations,  often  sharp  and 
angry,  which  it  was  alike  to  be  admitted  and  lamented, 
were  too  profusely  to  be  found  among  the  elaborate  jour 
nals  and  other  proceedings  of  the  commission,  and  over 
which  it  might  be  supposed  that  each  nation  would  rather 
desire  to  draw  a  veil  than  publish  more  largely  to  the 
world.  This  feature  in  the  complicated  transaction,  formed, 
indeed,  one  of  the  many  reasons  for  not  resorting  to  an 
umpirage  at  all,  and  so  I  had  been  instructed  to  declare. 
But,  this  objection  removed,  how,  I  asked,  in  the  second 
place,  would  Britain  prepare  her  statement  in  a  manner  to 


560  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

be  acceptable  to  the  United  States?  Upon  what  maps 
would  it  be  founded  ?  Not  upon  those  used  by  the  United 
States,  for  to  these  Britain  objected ;  not  upon  her  own,  for 
to  these  the  United  States  objected;  and  there  was  no  com 
mon  map  which  could  reconcile  these  discordant  opinions. 
My  own  Government,  I  added,  would  have  performed  the 
task  of  drawing  up  a  statement,  but  for  this  difficulty  about 
the  map,  not  the  only  one,  however,  but  a  difficulty  com 
mon  to  both  parties,  and  which  met  them  at  the  very 
threshhold.  It  was  thus  that  I  addressed  the  British  Pleni- 
potentaries  when  we  spoke  of  arbitration. 

I  perceived,  to  my  surprize,  that  they  were  under  an  im 
pression,  at  first,  that  no  statement  at  all  was  necessary,  and 
perhaps,  under  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  might  not  even  be 
admissible.  They  quoted  the  words  of  the  fourth  article, 
that  run  as  follows,  viz.  "  that  in  the  event  of  the  two  com 
missioners  differing  upon  all  or  any  of  the  matters  so  re 
ferred  to  them,  or  in  the  event  of  both  or  either  of  the  said 
commissioners  refusing  or  declining,  or  wilfully  omitting  to 
act  as  such,  they  shall  make,  jointly  or  separately,  a  report 
or  reports,  as  well  to  the  Government  of  His  Britanic 
Majesty  as  to  that  of  the  United  States,  stating,  in  detail, 
the  points  on  which  they  differ,  and  the  grounds  on  which 
their  respective  opinions  have  been  formed,  or  the  grounds 
upon  which  they,  or  either  of  them,  have  so  refused,  de 
clined,  or  omitted  to  act.  And  His  Britanic  Majesty  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  hereby  agree  to  refer 
the  report  or  reports  of  the  said  commissioners  to  some 
friendly  sovereign  or  state,  to  be  then  named  for  that  pur 
pose,  and  who  shall  be  requested  to  decide  on  the  differ 
ences  which  may  be  stated  in  the  said  report  or  reports,  or 
upon  the  report  of  one  commissioner,  together  with  the 
grounds  upon  which  the  other  commissioner  shall  have 
refused,  declined,  or  omitted  to  act."  From  the  tenor  of 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  561 

the  article,  as  thus  quoted,  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  said, 
that  they  rather  inferred  it  to  be  the  intention  of  the  treaty, 
that  it  was  the  report  itself,  as  the  authentic  and  official 
document,  and  not  a  statement  framed  out  of  the  report, 
that  was  to  be  laid  before  the  arbitrator.  It  was  to  the 
source  itself  that  he  was  to  look  for  his  information,  not  to 
any  thing  derivative. 

I  replied,  that  I  considered  this  by  no  means  the  true, 
certainly  not  as  the  imperative  construction  of  the  treaty. 
The  statement  indicated  by  my  Government,  as  proper 
upon  the  occasion,  was  to  be  nothing  more  than  an  abstract 
to  be  made,  by  consent  of  both  parties,  from  the  report, 
presenting,  in  a  succinct,  and  intelligible  form,  to  the  arbi 
trator,  the  points  on  which  he  was  to  decide,  and  drawing 
his  attention  to  such  parts  of  the  report  as  might  especially 
call  for  his  investigation.  It  was  not  to  supersede  the 
report,  but  to  be  something  in  addition  to  it.  The  parties 
were  surely  competent  to  adopt,  by  mutual  agreement,  such 
a  measure.  It  would  be  obviously,  a  convenient,  if  not  an 
indispensable  form,  by  which  to  secure  to  their  case  a  ready 
and  advantageous  hearing.  I  admitted  that  I  could  not 
advert  to  the  precedent  of  the  statement  prepared  when  the 
slave  question  was  submitted  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  as 
governing,  in  this  instance  ;  for,  in  that  case,  the  arbitration 
had  not  taken  place  under  any  provision  in  the  treaty;  but 
I  insisted  that  the  cases  were  analogous  in  reason,  the  mea 
sure  being  designed  chiefly,  and  in  this  light  imperiously 
due,  to  smooth  the  labors,  difficult  as  they  must  needs  be, 
with  every  mitigation  of  the  umpire. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  without  pushing  the  argu 
ment  on  this  point  further,  now  inquired  whether,  if  they 
were  disposed  to  wave  whatever  right  they  might  have 
under  the  treaty  to  object  to  the  necessity  of  a  statement, 
and  prepare  one  after  their  own  understanding  of  what  it 


562  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

should  contain,  I  was  empowered  to  accede  to  it,  without 
any  reference  home  to  my  Government.  Here  again,  I 
could  only  give  them  a  reply  in  the  negative.  My  Govern 
ment,  I  said,  had  not  anticipated  such  a  step  by  me.  I  had 
been  fully  written  to  on  the  whole  subject,  but  was  not  now 
in  possession  of  the  multitude  of  documents  that  belonged 
to  it.  I  could  not,  therefore,  be  supposed  to  be  armed  with 
the  means  of  fitly  judging  of  their  statement.  My  sole 
duty  respecting  it,  would  be  to  transmit  it  to  my  Govern 
ment,  and  I  subjoined  that,  how  far  it  would  prove  accepta 
ble  to  my  Government,  must  depend,  in  a  great  degree,  on 
the  map  that  was  used  in  drawing  it  up.  Upon  this  point, 
important  as  it  is,  I  was  not  able  to  obtain  from  the  British 
plenipotentiaries  any  explicit  declaration  of  their  intentions, 
nor  did  they  incline  to  take  any  steps  with  me  towards  the 
concurrent  selection  of  an  arbitrator.  They  admitted  that 
difficulties  would  lie  in  the  way  of  their  furnishing  me  with 
any  statement,  at  this  juncture,  that  would  be  likely  to  be 
satisfactory  to  my  Government,  and  thought  that  no  time 
would  be  lost,  by  their  forbearing  at  present  to  offer  one. 

In  the  course  of  our  conversations  on  the  mode  of  carry 
ing  the  arbitration  into  effect,  I  always,  as  I  have  already 
mentioned,  held  up,  in  the  strongest  lights  in  my  power,  the 
numerous,  the  intrinsic,  the  insuperable  obstacles  presenting 
themselves  on  every  side  to  a  practical  resort  to  this  mode 
of  adjustment.  Your  dispatch  had  abundantly  supplied 
me  with  matter  for  doing  so,  and  I  was  not  sparing  in  the 
use  of  it.  Amongst  other  topics  which  I  advanced,  was 
that  of  the  full  belief  of  my  Government,  that  the  case, 
from  its  great  bulk  arid  entanglement,  would  be  altogether 
beyond  the  compass  of  the  personal  attention  of  any  arbi 
trator.  Towards  deciding  upon  this  extensive  boundary  in 
unsettled  regions,  and  on  all  the  points  of  difference  involved 
in  it,  it  would  become,  I  said,  a  part  of  his  duty  to  examine 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  563 

thirty  folio  volumes  of  manuscripts  at  the  least,  made  up 
of  conflicting  statements,  conflicting  arguments,  conflicting 
opinions.  He  would  have  besides  to  hunt  for  the  lines  of 
his  award,  if  ever  he  should  arrive  at  one,  by  the  light  of 
three  collections  of  conflicting  maps  !  Would  it  be  proper, 
I  asked,  to  approach  any  sovereign  with  an  enumeration 
of  these  details  of  duty,  for  his  own  immediate  personal 
occupation,  or  could  his  compliance,  on  such  terms,  be  in 
candor  expected  ?  Hence,  the  suggestion  of  my  Govern 
ment  was,  that  the  investigation,  if  gone  into  at  all  by  an 
umpire,  must  be  by  delegated  authority;  by  a  person  or 
persons  commissioned  by  the  umpire  to  report  to  him  a  de 
cision  founded  upon  a  full  examination  of  the  whole  case, 
to  which  decision  it  would  be  enough  that  the  umpire  an 
nexed  his  formal  sanction.  I  added  that,  as  the  simplest 
way  of  carrying  this  suggestion  into  effect,  it  had  occurred 
to  my  Government  that  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the 
sovereign  arbitrator  residing  at  Washington,  should  be 
charged  with  this  delegated  trust  in  such  manner  as  would 
render  its  execution  effectual.  The  Brftish  plenipotentiaries 
made  immediate  objections  to  this  course.  They  said,  that, 
if  a  settlement  by  umpirage  was  finally  forced  upon  the 
parties,  their  opinion  was,  that  it  should  take  place  at  the 
court  of  the  sovereign  arbitrator,  leaving  him  to  seek  there 
all  such  instrumentality  and  assistance  in  the  case,  as  might 
be  proper  towards  its  investigation  and  decision.  From  the 
tone  in  which  they  urged  this  opinion,  I  am  left  under  the 
belief  that  it  is  one  from  which  their  government  would  not 
depart. 

It  will  be  perceived,  from  my  foregoing  report,  that  this 
Government  has  manifested  a  reluctance,  which  I  was  inca 
pable  of  overcoming,  at  entering  into  any  distinctive  agree 
ment  at  present,  upon  any  one  of  the  preliminary  points 
which  you  had  given  me  in  charge  relative  to  this  question. 


564  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

The  ground  of  their  reluctance  is  obviously  to  be  sought  in 
their  disappointment  at  my  not  consenting  to  connect  it  with 
the  question  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  As  they  not  only  de 
clined  coming  into  all  agreement  for  settling  the  former 
question  by  compromise,  but  also  coming  into  any  of  the 
previous  arrangements  indispensable  for  ripening  it  into  a 
state  for  arbitration,  what,  I  inquired,  was  to  be  done  ? 
Was  the  case  to  stand  still  ?  Was  it  never  to  be  settled  ? 
I  knew  of  no  mode  by  which  it  could  be  brought  to  a  close, 
except  the  two  preceding.  The  British  Plenipotentiaries 
replied,  that  they  must  not  be  understood  as  finally  declining 
a  resort  to  either  mode  of  settlement ;  but  they  did  not 
withhold  an  expression  of  their  strong  desire  that  the  case 
should  rest  where  it  is,  until  my  Government  had  become 
apprized  of  the  discussions  relative  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  the 
nature  of  which,  from  their  being  until  now  new  between 
the  two  nations,  could  not  as  yet  be  known.  They  wanted 
my  Government,  at  least,  to  be  made  acquainted,  before 
proceeding  any  farther,  with  their  desire  to  treat  of  the  two 
subjects  in  conjunction,  and  upon  the  terms  which  they  had 
explained.  I  would  not,  of  myself,  have  consented  to  this 
course,  not  feeling  at  all  at  liberty;  but  was  not  able  to  pre 
vent  it.  I  reconcile  myself  to  it  under  the  reflection,  that 
possibly  something  may  be  thought  due,  all  the  circum 
stances  considered,  to  this  desire  of  Great  Britain  ;  and 
under  the  hope,  that  the  slight  additional  loss  of  time  thus 
incurred,  may  bring  with  it  no  peculiar  inconvenience  over 
a  question  that  has  already  been  pending  since  the  Revolu 
tion.  Having  put  you  in  possession  of  all  the  discussions 
which  passed  on  it,  and  shown  you  the  predicament  in 
which  it  now  stands,  unsatisfactory  I  must  own,  I  go  on  to 
the  consideration  of  another  subject.  The  protocols  relat 
ing  to  it  are,  the  ninth,  the  seventeenth,  the  eighteenth,  and 
the  nineteenth. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  565 

III.  ADMISSION  OF  CONSULS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  INTO 
THE  BRITISH  COLONIAL  PORTS.  My  report  upon  this  sub 
ject  will  be  shortened,  by  the  communications  which  I  have 
already  had  the  honor  to  address  to  you  at  former  periods,  in 
relation  to  it.  I  allude  more  particularly  to  my  dispatches, 
number  343,  and  352,  of  November  and  December,  1823, 
and  to  my  official  note  to  Mr.  Secretary  Canning,  of  the 
17th  November,  1823.  In  that  note,  written  after  I  had  re 
ceived  your  dispatch  of  the  26th  of  June,  1823,  I  found  it 
necessary  to  execute,  in  a  great  degree,  the  instructions 
which  your  dispatch  contained.  This  Government,  during 
the  negotiation,  as  well  as  when  the  correspondence  above 
alluded  to  took  place,  always  considered  the  subject  of  ap 
pointing  consuls,  to  reside  in  their  colonies,  as  connected 
with  that  of  the  commercial  intercourse  generally:  and  here 
I  agreed  that  the  connexion  was  a  natural  one.  It  was 
evident,  that,  but  for  the  opening  of  the  colonial  ports  to 
our  trade,  we  should  not  have  asked  for  the  privilege  of  ap 
pointing  consuls  to  reside  at  them :  and  if,  by  any  circum 
stances,  they  were  again  to  be  closed,  it  was  equally  evi 
dent,  that  our  claim  to  consular  representation  would  be  at 
an  end. 

The  consular  appointments  made  by  the  President  for 
Jamaica,  St.  Christopher's,  and  Antigua,  Demerara,  and 
Barbadoes,  had  been  sufficiently  explained  and  justified  to 
this  government,  in  the  course  of  my  communications  above 
mentioned,  in  conjunction  also  with  my  number  349,  which 
covered  another  official  note  from  me  to  Mr.  Canning,  upon 
the  same  subject.  Nevertheless,  I  did  not  omit  to  bring 
before  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  all  the  circumstances  of 
this  correspondence.  They  were  particularly  pertinent  to 
our  discussions  on  the  question  of  commercial  intercourse, 
which  had  turned  so  entirely  on  the  point  of  reciprocity, 
and  throughout  the  whole  course  of  which,  it  had  been  the 

48 


566  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

aim  of  each  party  to  exonerate  itself  from  any  charge  of  de 
ficiency  in  this  important  point,  if  not  to  fix  that  charge 
upon  the  other.  I  remarked  upon  the  fact  of  our  trade  to 
the  opened  colonial  ports  having  now  continued  for  two 
years,  without  a  single  consul  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  having,  to  this  day,  heen  recognized  in  any  one  of 
them,  though  at  least  three  of  those  who  had  gone  there  and 
presented  themselves  for  recognition,  had  been  appointed 
under  the  previous  and  express  consent  of  his  Majesty's 
government;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand, during  the  whole  of 
this  period,  the  British  trade  from  those  ports,  had  been  re 
ceiving  full  consular  protection  from  the  consuls  of  Great 
Britain,  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States.  In  this  at  least, 
it  must  be  admitted,  there  was  no  reciprocity.  Nor  was 
the  absence  of  it,  cause  of  mere  nominal  complaint  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States.  And  here  I  brought  into  view, 
from  your  dispatch  of  the  26th  of  June,  1823,  the  practical 
inconveniences,  especially  in  the  Island  of  Barbadoes,  to 
which  our  trade  had  been  subjected,  in  the  opened  ports,  on 
occasions  which  probably  would  not  have  occurred,  had 
consuls  from  the  United  States  been  residing  there.  The 
British  Plenipotentiaries  met  this  complaint  in  the  manner 
their  Government  had  formerly  done.  They  said,  that  when 
their  consent  had  been  given  for  appointing  consuls  at  three 
of  the  colonial  ports,  it  had  been  given  under  an  expectation 
by  Great  Britain,  that  the  United  States  would  carry  on  the 
trade,  on  terms  that  were  reciprocal;  but  that  afterwards, 
finding  the  terms  to  be  such  as  Great  Britain  did  not  con 
sider  reciprocal,  she  forbore  to  perfect  the  appointments, 
until  the  issue  could  be  known,  apprehending  that  the  effect 
of  new  retaliatory  measures  on  either  side,  would  soon  be, 
to  put  an  end  to  the  trade  altogether.  I  rejoined,  that, 
whatever  motive  deemed  by  herself  sufficient,  though  not 
so  regarded  by  the  United  States,  Britain  might  allege  for 


1S24.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  567 

her  course  of  conduct  in  this  particular,  it  did  not  destroy 
the  broad  fact,  or  lessen  the  evils  arising  from  it,  of  Britain 
having  enjoyed  the  advantage,  during  the  two  years  of  this 
trade,  of  full  consular  representation  in  the  ports  of  the 
United  States,  whilst  the  United  States  had  enjoyed  none  in 
the  British  ports. 

On  the  principal  question  of  the  claim  of  the  United 
States,  to  appoint  consuls  for  the  colonial  ports,  I  took  the 
ground  which  you  had  laid  before  me,  and  heretofore  main 
tained  in  my  note  to  Mr.  Secretary  Canning,  of  November 
the  17th,  1823,  as  well  as  in  the  one  which  I  first  of  all  ad 
dressed  to  him  on  this  subject,  on  the  17th  of  October,  1822; 
namely,  that  our  claim  extended,  not  to  any  specified  num 
ber  of  the  colonial  ports,  but  to  all,  without  exception,  that 
had  been  opened  by  the  act  of  Parliament,  of  the  24th  of 
June,  1822.  This  was  the  ground  which  I  pressed  upon 
the  attention  of  the  British  Plenipotentiaries.  It  was  the 
only  ground,  I  said,  which,  in  the  true  sense  of  recipro 
city,  and  therefore,  in  the  true  sense  of  justice,  could  be 
supposed  to  be  satisfactory  to  the  United  States.  As  they 
gave  all,  so  it  was  reasonable  that  they  should  ask  all.  The 
United  States  excepted  none  of  their  ports  to  which  the 
British  colonial  vessels  resorted,  from  the  residence  of  Brit 
ish  consuls,  and  had  a  fair  right  to  expect  that  none  of  the 
colonial  ports  to  which  American  vessels  resorted,  would  be 
excepted  from  the  residence  of  American  consuls.  Consu 
lar  protection  was  an  incident  of  trade,  which  the  United 
States  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  forego  in  behalf  of  their  citi 
zens,  so  long  as  they  allowed  it  to  be  enjoyed  in  their  ports, 
without  limit  or  exception,  by  the  subjects  of  Britain.  It 
satisfied  neither  the  real,  nor  even  the  verbal,  meaning  of 
the  term  reciprocity,  in  this  discussion,  to  say,  that  the  resi 
dence  of  British  consuls  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States, 
was  matched  by  the  residence  of  American  consuls  in  the 


568  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

ports  of  Great  Britain,  in  Europe.  It  was  palpable,  that,  if 
a  British  ship,  whether  arriving  from  Liverpool,  or  Barba- 
does,  received  consular  protection  at  New  York,  and  an 
American  ship  received  it  at  Liverpool,  but  not  at  Barba- 
does,  there  was  no  reciprocity  in  fact,  whatever  artificial 
reasons  might  justify  Britain  to  herself,  in  distinguishing,  in 
this  respect  too,  her  colonial  from  her  home  dominion.  The 
only  true  equivalent  for  the  privilege  on  the  one  side,  would 
be  the  extension  of  it  to  all  the  ports  that  were  open,  whether 
home  or  colonial,  on  the  other. 

The  United  States,  I  continued,  in  claiming  to  appoint 
consuls  for  all  the  colonial  ports,  meant  not  to  make  any  un 
reasonable  use  of  the  privilege,  and  so  I  was  instructed  to 
declare.  But  the  privilege  of  selecting  the  ports  must  rest, 
I  said,  exclusively  with  the  United  States.  Their  consular 
system  did  not  recognize  any  fixed  emoluments  as  the  stan 
dard  of  remuneration  for  their  consuls,  but  left  it  to  depend 
upon  the  fees  produced  by  trade.  Hence,  in  the  ports  to 
which  trade  flowed,  consuls  were  necessary,  and  to  those 
where  there  was  none,  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  they 
would  be  sent,  or  even  consent  to  go.  But  as  the  chan 
nels  of  trade  were  liable  to  shift,  there  was  a  manifest 
convenience  and  propriety,  on  this,  as  all  other  accounts, 
in  leaving  the  selection  of  the  ports  to  the  sound  discretion 
of  the  appointing  power.  Such  were  my  remarks  upon 
this  subject,  in  addition  to  those  I  formerly  made,  orally 
and  in  writing,  to  Mr.  Canning.  I  did  not,  in  conclusion, 
offer  any  formal  article  in  relation  to  it ;  first,  because,  I 
thought  it  unnecessary,  after  the  aspect  which  the  negotia 
tion  had  assumed  on  the  primary  question  of  the  commer 
cial  intercourse  itself,  and  secondly,  because  I  had  been  in 
formed  in  your  instructions,  that  the  President  was  not 
tenacious  of  any  article  relating  to  consuls  being  inserted  in 
a  commercial  convention,  if  one  had  been  formed.  But,  I 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  569 

gave  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  fully  to  understand  the 
true  nature  of  our  claim,  and,  that  it  would  not  in  anywise 
fall  short  of  the  privilege  of  appointing  for  all  the  opened 
ports. 

They  consented,  substantially,  to  this  principle,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  protocol  of  the  twenty-fourth  conference.  Their 
expression  in  it,  that  they  saw  no  objection  to  the  admission 
of  our  consuls  into  their  colonies,  "subject  to  the  usual 
exceptions  and  reservations,"  means,  that  both  parties  were 
to  be  considered  as  reserving  to  themselves  the  privilege  of 
excepting  from  the  residence  of  consuls,  such  particular 
places  as  they  might  think  proper.  This,  they  explained 
to  be  their  meaning.  The  same  reservation  had  place  in 
the  sixteenth  article  of  the  treaty  of  the  nineteenth  of  Novem 
ber,  1794 ;  which  was  pointed  out  to  me,  by  you,  as  the 
model  of  an  article,  on  the  present  occasion,  had  one  been 
framed.  It  also  exists  in  the  fourth  article  of  the  commer 
cial  convention,  of  the  third  of  July,  1815  ;  which  article  is 
indicated  by  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  as  the  model,  in 
the  fifth  article  of  their  own  counter-projet  annexed  to  the 
protocol  of  the  sixteenth  conference.  The  two  articles  on 
this  subject,  in  the  treaty  of  1794,  and  in  that  of  1815,  are 
so  much  alike  that  they  might  be  adopted,  indiscriminately, 
as  models ;  the  latter  being  a  copy,  with  only  slight  variations, 
from  the  former.  In  my  note  to  Mr.  Canning,  of  the  17th 
of  November,  1823, 1  had  reminded  him,  that,  in  case  Great 
Britain  excluded  American  consuls  from  the  ports  of  the 
colonies,  the  United  States  would  have  to  reserve  the  right 
of  excluding  from  consular  benefit  in  their  ports,  all  British 
vessels  and  seamen  arriving  from  the  colonies.  So,  also,  I 
reminded  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  that  the  United  States 
would  have  to  protect  themselves,  by  a  similar  reservation, 
to  an  extent,  co-equal  with  that  to  which  Britain  might  use 
her  option  of  excepting  from  the  residence  of  our  consuls, 

48* 


570  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

particular  places  in  her  colonies,  there  being  no  other  appro 
priate  mode  by  which  we  could  countervail  on  our  side  this 
right  of  exception  on  hers,  so  far  as  regarded  her  colonies. 
It  will  be  seen  from  the  twenty -fourth  protocol,  that 
Britain  continues  to  decline,  for  the  present,  receiving  our 
consuls  in  any  of  her  colonial  ports.  She  acts,  in  this 
respect,  under  an  impression  that  there  is  danger  of  the 
intercourse  between  these  ports  and  the  United  States,  being 
soon  wholly  interrupted.  She  waits  the  disappearance  of 
this  danger  before  she  recognizes  our  consuls,  as  its  reality 
would,  according  to  her  way  of  reasoning,  render  their 
recognition  of  little  value.  It  was  in  vain  that  I  urged  the 
justice  of  recognizing  ours  at  once,  so  that  we  might  be 
upon  a  par  with  Great  Britain,  until  ulterior  events  were 
known.  If  her  tonnage  duty  of  four  shillings  and  three 
pence  sterling  per  ton,  on  our  vessels  entering  her  colonial 
ports  and  her  additional  impost  of  ten  per  cent.,  be  met  by 
countervailing  duties  on  our  side,  as  I  was  forced,  for  the 
reasons  given  in  another  part  of  this  dispatch,  to  intimate 
my  belief  would  be  the  case,  her  Plenipotentiaries  have 
informed  me  that  it  will  lead  to  fresh  measures,  of  the  same 
character,  on  her  side;  thus  bringing  on  a  state  of  things, 
that  can  only  terminate  in  rendering  the  trade  no  longer 
worth  the  pursuit  of  either  country.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  trade  remains  as  at  present  regulated,  without  any 
alteration  by  either  party,  although  Britain,  as  I  have  had 
occasion  to  remark  before,  alleges  that  she  is  dissatisfied 
with  it,  she  will  let  it  have  a  further  trial,  and  in  this  event, 
will  receive  our  consuls  on  the  terms  mentioned  in  the 
twenty-fourth  protocol.  This  she  will  do,  as  I  understand 
her  intentions,  notwithstanding  the  tenor  of  the  fifth  article 
of  her  counter-projet,  above  mentioned,  which  would  seem 
to  make  her  consent  to  the  reception  of  our  consuls  depen 
dent  upon  our  acceptance  of  her  four  preceding  articles.  I 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  571 

believe,  moreover,  that  she  would  raise  no  obstacle  on  the 
score  of  expense,  but  grant  to  our  consuls  exequaturs  free 
of  all  charge,  as  we  grant  exequaturs  to  hers.  This  point 
I  mentioned  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  and  to  its 
obvious  justice  they  took  no  exception.  There  remains 
nothing  further  for  me  to  impart  to  you  on  this  subject. 
The  protocols  that  relate  to  it,  are  the  twenty-third  and  the 
twenty-fourth. 

IV.  NEWFOUNDLAND  FISHERY. — This  subject  was  thrown 
out  of  the  negotiation  altogether.  I  was  not  the  less  mind 
ful,  however,  of  your  instructions  upon  it,  and  the  subject 
must  be  now  explained,  as  it  was  otherwise  taken  up  and 
handled.  I  brought  it  under  the  notice  of  the  British  Pleni 
potentiaries  at  the  tenth  conference.  I  gave  them  a  full 
history  of  the  question  from  its  origin.  I  stated  the  grounds 
of  complaint  which  the  United  States  had  against  France, 
as  shown  by  the  bare  statement  of  the  relative  rights  and  pre 
tensions  of  the  two  nations  to  the  fishery  in  dispute.  I  stated 
the  past  unwillingness  of  France  to  do  us  justice,  and  the 
obligations  hence  arising  to  Great  Britain  to  interpose  her 
friendly  and  efficacious  offices  to  the  end  that  justice  should 
be  rendered  to  us.  From  your  dispatch  of  the  27th  of 
June,  1S23,  I  also  stated  the  motives  which  had  restrained 
the  President,  until  the  present  epoch,  from  laying  this 
case  before  the  British  Government,  motives  which  I  felt 
sure  would  be  appreciated,  and  which  would  increase  the 
claims  it  now  had  to  attention.  The  case  being  wholly 
new  until  now,  in  any  formal  shape  to  this  Government, 
and  being  one  which  involved  also  the  duties  and  the  rights 
of  a  third  power,  I  thought  that  it  would  be  most  proper 
not  to  content  myself  with  a  verbal  explanation  of  it  merely. 
Having,  therefore,  gone  through  with  this,  under  the  lights 
which  your  instructions  and  my  own  past  investigations  of 
the  subject  had  afforded,  I  finished,  by  delivering  to  the 


572  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

British  Plenipotentiaries,  a  paper,  embracing  a  written 
summary  of  its  merits,  and  one  which  might  serve  as  a 
memorandum  to  Great  Britain,  of  the  true  nature  of  our 
claim.  This  paper  consists  of  a  synopsis  of  the  question 
which  I  had  formerly  made  out  from  Mr.  Gallatin's  letter 
to  me  of  August  the  third,  1822,  together  with  a  reference 
to  a  correspondence  subsequently  carried  on  by  the  United 
States  and  France  in  relation  to  it.  It  is  amongst  the  papers 
of  the  negotiation,  marked  E,  and  annexed  to  the  protocol  of 
the  tenth  conference.  It  commences  with  references  to  the 
different  treaties;  that  of  Utrecht,  in  1713;  of  Aix  la  Cha- 
pelle,  in  1748  ;  of  Paris,  in  1763  ;  our  own  with  Britain,  in 
1783;  that  between  Britain  and  France  of  the  same  year, 
and  the  treaty  of  Paris  of  IS  14,  also  between  Britain  and 
France  ;  all  of  which  go  to  show  that,  whilst  France  possess 
ed  the  right  of  taking  fish  on  the  western  coast  of  the  island 
of  Newfoundland,  she  did  not  possess  it,  as  she  now  claims 
it,  exclusively;  but  that  Great  Britain,  the  undoubted 
sovereign  of  the  island,  held  it  in  common  with  her :  it  next 
recites  the  first  article  of  the  convention  of  the  20th  of 
October,  1818,  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
by  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  expressly 
allowed  to  take  fish  on  the  western  coast  (and  on  other  parts) 
of  this  island,  in  common  with  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  : 
it  then  states  the  fact  of  the  cruisers  of  France  having,  in 
the  years  1820  and  1821,  ordered  American  fishing  vessels 
away  from  this  coast,  even  whilst  they  were  within  the 
acknowledged  jurisdiction  of  the  island,  threatening  them 
with  confiscation  if  they  refused :  finally,  it  concludes  with 
pointing  to  the  threefold  duty  which  devolved  upon  Great 
Britain  under  the  emergency  described ;  1st,  To  make  good 
the  title  of  the  United  States  to  take  fish  on  the  coast  in 
question,  as  stipulated  by  the  convention  of  1818  ;  but,  2d, 
If  she  could  not  do  that,  to  give  the  United  States  an  equiva- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  573 

lent  for  the  loss  of  so  valuable  a  right ;  and  3d,  To  vindicate 
her  own  sovereignty  over  this  island,  already  impaired  and 
farther  threatened  by  the  conduct  of  the  French  cruisers 
towards  the  fishing  vessels  of  the  United  States  within  its 
jurisdiction.  The  paper  subjoined  copies  of  all  the  official 
notes  that  passed  between  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Viscount 
Chateaubriand,  in  January,  February,  and  April,  1823,  on 
the  respective  rights  of  the  two  nations  to  the  fishery  in 
controversy. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  after  having  this  paper  in 
their  possession,  and  consulting,  as  they  informed  me,  their 
Government  respecting  it,  entered  upon  the  matter  of  it  at 
the  next  succeeding  conference.  They  said  that  it  was  not 
their  intention  to  controvert  the  title  of  the  United  States  to 
participate  with  Great  Britain  in  certain  fishing  liberties 
described  in  the  first  article  of  the  convention  of  1818. 
They  said,  too,  that  the  United  States  might  require  a 
declaration  of  the  extent  of  those  liberties  as  enjoyed  by 
British  subjects,  under  any  limitations  prescribed  by  treaty 
with  other  powers.  The  United  States  might  also  ask 
from  Britain,  as  sovereign  of  the  island  of  Newfoundland, 
support  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  liberties,  as  so  limited. 
But,  the  Plenipotentiaries  went  on  to  remark,  that  the 
nature  of  the  question  seemed,  in  their  opinion,  to  be  varied, 
by  France  having,  as  seen  in  the  notes  of  Viscount  Chateau 
briand  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  placed  her  claim  to  exclude  the 
United  States  from  the  fishery  in  dispute,  on  engagements 
contracted  by  the  United  States  with  France  prior  to  the 
convention  of  18 IS,  and  also  on  the  fact  of  the  United  States 
having  opened  discussions  upon  the  whole  subject  with 
France.  They  further  remarked,  that  they  had  understood, 
from  one  of  their  own  negotiators  of  the  convention  of  1818, 
that  the  American  negotiators  had  been  apprized,  at  that 
period,  by  Great  Britain,  of  the  French  right  to  fish  on  this 


574  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

coast.  At  all  events,  they  said  that,  as  the  subject  stood, 
they  must  decline  entertaining  it  as  one  susceptible  of  being 
handled  in  any  effective  way,  at  present,  in  this  negotiation. 
Whatever  rights  or  remedies  the  United  States  were  entitled 
to  from  Great  Britain  upon  the  occasion,  could  be  brought 
into  view,  if  thought  necessary,  by  a  direct  application  to 
the  British  Government,  in  the  usual  form.  With  this  inti 
mation  they  would  consider  the  subject,  for  so  they  con 
cluded  with  saying,  as  no  longer  upon  the  list  of  those 
which  it  was  the  object  of  our  endeavors  to  mould  into  a 
general  treaty  or  convention  between  the  two  states. 

I  said  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  in  reply,  that  I  had 
certainly  not  anticipated  all  the  above  avowals.  I  did  not 
admit  that  the  fact  of  the  United  States  having  opened  a 
correspondence  upon  this  subject  with  France,  could  dimin 
ish,  in  any  degree,  their  right  to  resort  to  Great  Britain, 
remarking  that  it  could  scarcely  have  been  expected  that  a 
forbearance  on  their  part  to  appeal  to  this  resort  in  the  first 
instance,  from  considerations  of  delicacy,  both  towards  Bri 
tain  and  France,  was  now  to  be  turned  against  them.  For 
bearance  had  been  due  to  France,  at  first,  to  avoid  the 
appearance  of  recurring,  on  a  question  between  her  and  the 
United  States,  to  the  aid  of  a  third  power ;  and  to  Great 
Britain  it  had  been  due,  as  it  was  hoped  that  the  case  might 
have  been  settled  without  putting  her  upon  her  decided  duty 
of  interfering.  As  little  did  I  admit  the  allegation  of  the 
French  Government,  that  the  United  States  were  excluded 
from  this  fishery  by  their  previous  engagements  to  France, 
was  entitled  to  any  weight.  These  engagements,  I  said, 
had  been  made  under  treaties  long  since  expired,  and  the 
provisions  of  which  were  otherwise  nugatory  as  to  any  just 
bearing  upon  this  controversy.  Here  I  adverted  to  the 
arguments  used  by  Mr.  Gallatin  in  reply  to  the  notes  of  the 
Viscount  Chateaubriand,  relative  to  the  operation  of  the 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  575 

tenth  article  of  the  treaty  with  France  of  1778,  and  of  the 
twenty-seventh  article  of  the  convention  with  her  of  1800, 
arguments  which  completed  the  demonstration,  as  you  had 
remarked  in  your  dispatch,  that  the  pretension  of  France  to 
an  exclusive  fishery  was  not  to  be  supported.  I  admitted, 
as  one  of  the  American  negotiators  of  the  convention  of 
1818,  that  we  had  heard  of  the  French  right  at  that  time, 
but  never  that  it  was  exclusive.  Such  an  inference  was 
contradicted,  not  only  by  the  plain  meaning  of  the  article  in 
the  convention  of  1818,  but  by  the  whole  course  and  spirit 
of  the  negotiation,  which,  it  was  well  known,  had  been 
drawn  out  into  anxious  and  protracted  discussions  upon  the 
fishery  question.  As  regarded  the  arguments  of  Viscount 
Chateaubriand,  I  reminded  the  British  Plenipotentiaries, 
that,  whilst  part  of  them  labored  to  give  to  obsolete  treaties, 
as  against  the  United  States,  a  validity  and  extent  greater 
than  they  ever  could  have  had  whilst  existing,  the  remain 
der  went  to  assert  a  pre-existing  and  exclusive  right  in 
France  to  fish  on  this  coast,  as  against  all  the  world,  and,  of 
course,  as  against  Great  Britain.  Was  Britain,  I  asked, 
prepared  to  acquiesce  in  this  branch  of  the  argument  ?  for, 
undoubtedly,  it  was  that  which  it  most  concerned  France  to 
establish,  and  without  which  the  other  branch  would  be  of 
little  avail  to  her. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  peremptorily  asserted  a 
right  in  Great  Britain  to  participate  in  the  fishery  on  this 
coast,  and  denied  in  the  same  tone  that  the  French  right 
was  exclusive.  But  having  concluded  to  consider  the  sub 
ject  as  no  longer  amongst  those  embraced  in  our  negotia 
tions,  they  declined  pursuing  any  further  the  discussion  of 
it,  leaving  me  to  pursue  such  other  course  as  I  might  judge 
applicable  and  expedient.  My  great  duty  having  been  to 
place  the  subject  explicitly  before  this  Government,  with  a 
view  as  well  to  our  rights  as  our  remedies,  I  said  to  the 


576  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1S24. 

British  Plenipotentiaries  that  the  form  in  which  I  did  so 
was  not  material,  and  that  I  should  therefore  adopt,  with 
out  delay,  that  of  addressing  an  official  representation,  in 
regard  to  the  whole  subject,  to  His  Majesty's  principal  Sec 
retary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs.  I  accordingly  prepared 
such  a  note  to  Mr.  Canning,  a  copy  of  which  will  be  found 
amongst  the  papers  which  I  transmit,  under  date  of  the  3d 
of  May.  I  do  not  recapitulate  its  contents,  as  they  are  to 
the  same  general  effect  with  the  paper  which  I  had  pre 
viously  caused  to  be  annexed  to  the  protocol  of  the  tenth 
conference.  I  was  careful,  in  the  pursuance  of  your  direc 
tions,  to  give  it  an  aspect  as  friendly  towards  France  as  was 
compatible  with  duly  making  known  the  rights  of  the  United 
States.  I  recollect  nothing  further  that  I  have  to  communi 
cate  in  explanation  of  this  subject.  The  protocols  in  which 
it  is  mentioned,  are  the  tenth  and  the  fourteenth.  My  note 
to  Mr.  Canning,  considered  in  the  light  of  a  first  formal 
application  to  this  Government,  is  designed  to  bring  on 
explanations  respecting  our  claim  between  the  Govern 
ments  of  Britain  and  France.  These,  I  must  hope,  will 
take  place,  and  eventuate  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  the 
United  States.  I  mentioned  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries 
the  strong  intimation  given  to  Mr.  Gallatin  by  the  French 
Minister  of  Marine,  that,  as  France  had,  according  to  her 
own  judgment,  the  exclusive  rights  of  fishery  on  the  coast 
in  dispute,  so  she  ought  to  expel  from  it  the  fishing  vessels 
of  any  nation.  But  I  abstained  from  inserting  this  intima 
tion  in  my  note  to  Mr.  Canning.  I  did  no  more  than  advert 
to  the  menace  of  seizure  directed  by  France  against  our 
vessels. 

V.  MARITIME  QUESTIONS. — I  entered  upon  this  subject 
with  all  the  anxiousness  that  belongs  to  its  deep  and  per 
manent  connexion  with  the  interests  and  character  of  the 
United  States;  with  all  the  recollections  called  up  by  their 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  577 

past  history,  and  all  the  anticipations  which  every  view  of 
the  future  must  awaken.  It  was  at  the  thirteenth  confer 
ence  that  I  brought  it  forward.  I  laid  before  the  British 
Plenipotentiaries  the  opinions  and  the  hopes  which  my 
Government  had  formed  upon  this  great  branch  of  the  rela 
tions  between  the  two  countries,  arid  strove  to  do  justice 
to  the  principles  upon  which  they  were  founded.  I  said 
that  the  United  States  were  not  behind  any  of  the  powers 
of  Europe  in  wishes,  and,  moving  in  their  proper  sphere, 
would  never  be  behind  them  in  endeavors,  to  bring  about 
a  general  melioration  in  the  condition  of  mankind.  That 
such  a  principle  was  eminently  congenial  to  their  political 
institutions,  and  had  always  been  a  maxim  of  their  policy 
in  the  whole  system  of  their  external  relations.  Peace,  I 
said,  was  their  invariable  desire,  as  well  as  policy:  but  war 
taking  place,  it  had  been  as  invariably  their  desire  and  their 
effort  to  do  homage  to  those  beneficent  principles  which 
serve  as  well  to  shorten  its  duration  as  mitigate  its  evils. 
I  instanced  as  pertinent  to  this  negotiation  with  Great  Bri 
tain,  the  stipulations  of  the  tenth  and  the  twenty-sixth  arti 
cles  of  the  treaty  of  the  nineteenth  of  November,  1794, 
when  both  countries  successfully  engaged  in  the  work  of 
sacrificing  to  these  principles  belligerent  rights  which  both 
in  strictness  might  otherwise  have  claimed  and  exercised. 

But,  in  the  wide  maritime  field,  whether  occupied  by  the 
belligerent  or  the  neutral,  there  were,  I  continued,  questions 
of  the  highest  moment  to  the  United  States  and  Great  Bri 
tain,  which  they  had  heretofore  ineffectually  endeavored  to 
arrange.  These  questions  the  United  States  again  desired  to 
approach,  animated  by  the  hope  that  better  auspices  might 
shed  themselves  over  another  attempt  to  come  to  a  satis 
factory  and  harmonious  understanding  respecting  them. 
My  Government,  I  remarked,  was  not  discouraged  from 
this  attempt  by  the  failure  to  adjust  them  during  the  nego- 

49 


578  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

tiations  at  Ghent;  nor  by  the  more  recent  failure  at  London, 
in  1818.  Even  since  the  latest  of  these  periods,  the  most 
material  changes  have  been  witnessed  in  the  political  aspect 
of  Europe  and  of  America.  The  European  alliance  had 
been  impaired  by  a  variance  in  the  principles,  or  in  the 
policy,  of  some  of  its  chief  members,  and  the  whole  of  that 
part  of  the  continent  of  America,  lately  dependent  upon 
Europe,  had  assumed  a  new  character  in  itself,  and  was 
hastening  to  new  relations  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  The 
most  extensive  alterations,  if  not  an  entire  revolution,  in  the 
colonial  system,  would,  in  all  probability,  follow  in  the 
train  of  the  latter  of  these  changes.  These  would  proba 
bly  superinduce  the  necessity  of  corresponding  changes  in 
maritime  interests  and  claims,  once  regarded  by  Great  Britain 
as  essential  to  her  welfare.  I  remarked,  too,  that  the  circum 
stance  of  Britain  having  held  towards  this  struggle  in 
America  an  attitude  of  neutrality,  as  she  had  also  done 
towards  the  recent  war  in  the  Spanish  peninsula,  had  served 
to  strengthen  the  belief  that  she  might,  perhaps,  at  the 
present  period,  be  disposed  to  view  neutral  doctrines  in 
different  and  more  favorable  lights  than  formerly,  under 
circumstances  so  opposite.*  It  was  under  the  combined 
force  of  these  considerations,  that  the  United  States  again 
came  forward  to  her,  with  an  offer  to  negotiate  on  them. 
But  if  Britain  still  viewed  them  as  hitherto,  if  she  still  felt 
herself  restrained  from  treating  of  them  except  on  her  former 
maritime  principles,  my  Government  would  prefer  being  so 
informed  with  candor  in  the  outset,  it  being  alike  due  to 
candor  to  say;  that  the  principles  of  the  United  States  re 
mained  the  same,  there  having  been  no  equipollent  changes 
in  their  political,  commercial,  or  maritime  position  in  the 
world.  It  was  thus  that  I  opened  this  part  of  the  subject  to 
the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  discouraging  our  entering  upon 

*  See  on  this  subject,  pages  465  and  466,  ante. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  579 

any  discussion  of  these  questions,  upon  terms  not  promising 
to  be  productive  of  beneficial  results. 

I  then  proceeded  to  the  paramount  part  of  your  instruc 
tions  of  the  28th  of  July,  1823.  I  said  that  there  was  yet 
another  object,  new  to  all  the  past  discussions  between  the 
two  Governments,  but  of  pre-eminent  interest  in  the  eyes  of 
mine,  by  its  connection  with  the  cause  of  civilization  and 
the  peace  of  the  world,  which  it  desired  to  propose  to  Great 
Britain.  This  great  object  was,  THAT  OF  TOTALLY  ABOLISH 
ING  ALL  PRIVATE  WAR  UPON  THE  OCEAN. 

The  United  States,  I  said,  from  an  early  period  of  their 
history,  aimed  at  bringing  about,  among  Nations,  this  great 
consummation  of  benevolence  and  humanity.  Once,  they 
had  secured  it,  by  a  treaty  with  one  of  the  powers  of 
Europe,  namely,  with  Prussia ;  and  now  they  desired  to 
offer  it  to  the  consideration  of  Great  Britain.  They  hoped 
that  she  would  go  hand  in  hand  with  them  in  giving  validity 
and  extent  to  the  benign  consequences  which  its  general 
adoption  must  introduce  into  the  world.  The  question, 
though  of  novelty  between  the  two  Governments,  was  one 
of  too  much  magnitude  under  considerations  of  a  moral  as 
well  as  political  nature,  to  be  discarded  on  that  account. 
In  proceeding  to  develope  the  reasoning  by  which  you  had 
directed  me  to  recommend  this  object  to  the  favor  and 
acceptance  of  the  British  Government,  it  may  be  sufficient 
for  me  to  say,  that  I  omitted  no  part  of  it,  resorting,  under 
this  delicate  head  of  my  instructions,  to  the  very  language 
of  them,  as  the  most' appropriate  and  effectual  for  imparting 
the  sentiments  which  they  embodied,  and  superadding  such 
views  of  my  own  as  justly  flowed  from  yours.  I  need 
not,  ^therefore,  repeat,  any  more  at  large,  the  manner  in 
which  I  executed  this  portion  of  my  duty.  I  aimed  at 
doing  it  fully,  and  finished  by  expressing,  in  the  name  of 
my  Government,  a  hope  that  Great  Britain  might  be  able 


580  '  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

to  see  her  way  towards  a  concurrence  in  this  great  object ; 
the  more  so,  as  it  was  also  to  be  proposed  by  the  United  States 
to  other  European  nations,  with  whom  the  example  of  Great 
Britain  might  be  of  powerful,  perhaps  decisive  influence. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  promised  to  take  my  whole 
exposition  of  the  subject  into  consideration,  and  consult  their 
Government  before  giving  me  an  answer  as  to  the  course 
which  it  might  become  their  duty  to  adopt. 

In  speaking  of  the  maritime  questions  heretofore  in  dis 
cussion  between  the  two  countries,  I  had  mentioned  that  of 
impressment  as  of  leading  importance.  A  question  was 
then  put  to  me  by  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  which,  with 
my  answer,  it  is  proper  that  I  should  at  once  state.  They 
asked  whether  I  would  be  willing  to  treat  of  the  above  class 
of  questons  generally,  supposing  impressment  not  to  be  in 
cluded  among  the  number.  I  had  anticipated  such  a  ques 
tion,  and  was  prepared  with  an  answer.  Your  instructions 
not  having  supplied  me  with  one,  it  was  only  left,  for  me  to 
act  upon  my  own  discretion.  I  therefore  declined  such  a 
course,  saying,  that  I  was  unwilling  to  enter  at  all  upon  the 
other  points  of  maritime  law,  unless  the  question  of  im 
pressment  were  received  by  Great  Britain  as  part  of  the 
negotiation.  It  will  be  understood,  that  I  spoke  indepen 
dently  of  the  question  of  abolishing  private  war  upon  the 
ocean. 

My  reasons  for  this  determination  were  derived,  first  from 
the  extraordinary  importance  of  the  question  of  impress 
ment,  transcending,  as,  in  my  judgment  it  did,  not  only  the 
importance  of  any  other,  but  the  collective  importance  of 
them  all.  I  knew  of  no  other  so  closely  linked  in  with  the 
rights,  the  sovereignty,  and  the  peace  of  the  Republic,  Inhere 
was  always  a  rational  hope,  that  the  harmony  of  the  two 
countries  might  remain  undisturbed  in  the  absence  of  con 
ventional  arrangements  upon  the  other  questions  ;  but  that 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  581 

of  impressment  always  carried  with  it  the  seed  of  dissension, 
was  always  difficult,  always  threatening.  The  question  of 
blockade,  of  contraband,  of  the  right  of  the  neutral  carrier 
to  protect  the  property  of  an  enemy,  and  all  the  maritime 
questions,  were  of  a  nature  to  be  sure,  which  it  would 
be  desirable  to  settle ;  but,  upon  some  of  them  the  two 
Governments  had  not  always  been  widely  asunder  in  their 
negotiations,  and  the  whole  were  distinguished  by  this  fea 
ture,  that  each  party,  when  differences  arose  under  them, 
could  more  readily  appeal  to  the  standard  of  principles  and 
usages  to  which  other  nations  appealed.  Impressment,  on 
the  contrary,  springing  from  a  claim  by  Great  Britain  to  en 
force  her  common  law  upon  the  high  seas,  was  not  so  much 
distinguished  by  its  international,  as  by  its  exclusive  char 
acter.  It  was  a  question  in  a  great  measure  sui  generis  ; 
peculiar,  in  its  practical  operation,  to  the  two  nations ;  re 
markable  for  the  earnestness  and  perseverance  with  which 
the  point  of  right  was  asserted  to  exist  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  explicitness  with  which  it  had  ever  been  pronounced  a 
positive  and  insupportable  wrong  upon  the  other.  I  did 
not  therefore  believe,  that  any  treaty  on  maritime  questions, 
admitting  that  one  had  been  concluded,  would  have  been 
acceptable  to  my  Government,  of  which  an  adjustment  of 
this  subject  of  perpetual  animosity  and  collision  did  not  make 
a  part.  Another  reason  was,  that  I  followed,  in  this  res 
pect,  the  precedent,  or  at  least  the  analogy,  of  the  negotia 
tion  of  1818.  It  will  be  recollected,  that,  in  that  negotia 
tion,  the  Plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States  were  in 
structed  not  to  entertain  the  discussion  of  maritime  topics, 
unless  that  of  impressment  were  also  brought  forward,  and 
by  Great  Britain.  I  trust  that  these  reasons  for  the  course 
which  I  pursued,  may  be  approved.  It  is  alike  proper  for 
me  to  mention,  that,  whilst  I  declined  going  into  the  field  of 
maritime  discussion,  impressment  being  left  out  of  it,  I 

49* 


582  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

avowed  my  perfect  readiness  to  take  up  impressment  by 
itself.  Its  absorbing  interest  justified,  also,  in  my  eyes,  this 
course. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  on  hearing  this  last  opinion 
from  me,  immediately  inquired  if  I  had  any  new  securities 
to  propose  on  behalf  of  my  Government,  against  the  employ 
ment  of  British  subjects  in  the  merchant  vessels  of  the 
United  States.  I  replied  that  I  had  none  that  differed 
essentially  from  those  brought  forward  in  former  negotia 
tions. 

After  an  interval  of  deliberation,  which  was  not  over 
until  the  twenty-first  conference,  the  British  Plenipotentia 
ries  communicated  to  me  the  decision  of  their  Government 
upon  the  topics  which  I  had  unfolded  to  them.  First,  they 
spoke  of  impressment.  They  said,  that  Great  Britain 
anxiously  desired  to  reconcile  the  exercise  of  this  established 
right  with  the  convenience  and  feelings  of  other  nations ; 
that  this  desire  had  ever  actuated  her  heretofore,  and  ever 
would  in  future.  It  was  her  duty  to  obey  its  impulse,  and 
her  interest  no  less  than  her  duty.  But,  the  right  was 
nevertheless  one  essential  to  her  highest  interests, and  deemed 
by  her,  as  incontrovertible  as  it  was  ancient.  It  was  a  right 
interwoven  with  the  frame  of  her  laws,  and  precious  to  her 
by  its  connection  with  principles  to  which  she  trusted  for 
her  strength  and  her  safety  at  conjunctures  when  both  might 
be  at  stake.  She  could  never  abandon  such  a  right ;  it  was 
impossible.  Nor  would  her  duty  allow  her  to  waive  it, 
with  respect  to  the  United  States,  but  upon  conditions  the 
most  satisfactory.  She  could  only  forego  it  in  their  favor, 
on  receiving  what  she  could  deem  ample  security  that  the 
objects  for  which  it  was  exercised,  might  be  attained  by 
other  means.  They  added,  that,  having  been  informed  by 
me,  that  I  had  no  proposals  to  make  on  this  head,  essentially 
differing  from  those  which  my  Government  had  submit- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  583 

ted  in  former  negotiations,  they  felt  themselves  forced  to 
abstain  in  this,  from  entering  into  the  subject.  The  senti 
ments  of  their  Government,  with  respect  to  the  impressment 
of  British  subjects,  in  time  of  war,  out  of  the  merchant 
vessels  of  whatever  nation,  upon  the  high  seas,  remained 
unchanged,  and  they  could  therefore  indulge  no  hope  of  any 
good  results  from  a  fresh  discussion  on  the  same  grounds 
which  Great  Britain  had,  on  full  deliberation,  adjudged  to 
be  inadequate  in  all  former  discussions.  It  was  to  this  effect 
that  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  spoke.  It  was  in  this 
manner  that  they  disposed  of  the  question  of  impressment. 

With  regard  to  the  other  maritime  questions,  affecting  the 
relations  of  neutral  and  belligerent  powers,  the  Plenipoten 
tiaries  remarked,  that,  as  I  was  not  prepared  to  enter  into 
stipulations  respecting  them,  but  in  conjunction  with  the 
question  of  impressment,  which  was  excluded  for  the  reason 
given,  the  discussion  of  the  others  in  any  way,  could  be 
to  no  useful  purpose.  It  would  therefore  be  declined  by 
them. 

Thus  it  was,  that  the  whole  of  this  subject  fell  to  the 
ground.  The  decision  upon  it  will  be  found  recorded  in  the 
protocol  of  the  twenty-first  conference. 

I  next  said  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  that  the  ques 
tion  of  abolishing  privateering,  and  the  capture  of  private 
property  at  sea,  whether  by  national  ships,  or  by  privateers, 
was  one  that  I  considered  as  standing  apart  from  those  on 
which  their  decision  had  been  given  to  me.  Upon  this 
question,  therefore,  I  desired  them  to  understand,  that  I  was 
ready  to  treat,  as  a  question  occupying  ground  wholly  of  its 
own. 

They  replied,  that  they  were  not  prepared  to  adopt  this 
course.  All  other  questions  of  a  maritime  nature  having 
been  shut  out  from  the  negotiation,  there  would  be,  they 
said,  manifest  inconvenience  in  going  into  that  for  abolish- 


584  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

ing  private  war  upon  the  ocean.  They  considered  it  a 
question  belonging  to  the  same  class  with  maritime  ques 
tions,  and  one  which,  besides  being  totally  new,  as  between 
the  two  Governments,  contemplated  a  most  extensive  change 
in  the  principles  and  practice  of  maritime  war,  as  hitherto 
sanctioned  by  all  nations.  Such  was  their  answer. 

This  answer  was  given  in  the  terms  I  here  state,  and  so 
entered  upon  the  protocol.  But,  it  is  proper  for  me  to  re 
mark,  that  no  sentiment  dropped  from  the  British  Plenipo 
tentiaries  authorizing  the  belief,  that  they  would  have  con 
curred  in  the  object,  if  we  had  proceeded  to  the  considera 
tion  of  it.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  Great  Britain  is  not 
prepared  at  present  to  accede,  under  any  circumstances, 
to  the  proposition  for  abolishing  private  war  upon  the 
ocean. 

By  the  preceding  decisions  of  the  British  Government,  in 
conjunction  with  the  restrictions  under  which  I  had  laid 
myself,  discussions  the  most  interesting,  and  which  it  might 
have  been  anticipated  would  have  been  the  most  ample, 
have  been  precluded.  My  report,  by  necessary  conse 
quence,  under  this  division  of  your  instructions,  becomes 
proportionably  abridged.  From  your  dispatch  of  the  28th 
of  July,  1823,  I  understood  that  I  was  to  make  no  commu 
nication  to  the  British  Government  of  the  draft  of  the  arti 
cles  which  it  enclosed,  unless  they  first  agreed  to  negotiate 
respecting  them.  As  they  declined  doing  so  upon  the 
terms,  which,  taking  into  view  the  whole  spirit  of  your  in 
structions,  I  had  alone  deemed  admissible,  it  follows,  that  I 
withheld,  altogether,  any  offer  of  the  draft.  The  negotia 
tion  on  the  maritime  questions  fell  through  ostensibly,  and, 
according  to  my  best  judgment,  with  sufficient  reason,  on 
the  point  of  impressment.  But,  here,  too,  I  have  to  remark, 
that  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  said  nothing  to  warrant 
the  opinion  of  any  change  in  the  doctrines  of  their  Govern- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  585 

ment  on  the  other  points  of  maritime  law,  any  more  than 
upon  that  of  impressment.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  no  such 
change  has  yet  taken  place.  If  the  altered  political  and  com 
mercial  circumstances  of  the  times  should  hereafter  serve  to 
make  her  rule  of  1756  an  exception,  it  will  probably  be 
found  the  only  exception.  Nor  will  this  be  a  rule  aban 
doned  by  her,  so  much  as  lapsed ;  nor  even  wholly  lapsed, 
if,  according  to  indications  contained  in  earlier  parts  of  this 
communication,  there  be  any  likelihood  of  her  return  to  her 
own  colonial  system  in  the  West  Indies,  rather  than  of  her 
making  larger  departures  from  it.  I  am  aware,  that  she 
would  probably  denominate  it  a  coerced  return  ;  whilst  all 
the  facts  would  present  to  the  United  States  a  view  of  the 
subject  so  very  different. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  after  all  negotiation  on  the 
maritime  questions  had  been  foreclosed,  informed  me  that 
they  were  willing  to  treat  of  other  points,  which,  though  not 
immediately  falling  under  this  class,  were  connected  with 
the  friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  countries,  and 
would  aim  at  its  improvement.  I  replied,  that  I  was  not 
prepared  to  enter  into  any  stipulations  with  them  of  this 
description,  detached  from  all  other  subjects,  but  that  I 
would  receive  and  transmit  to  my  Government,  whatever 
proposals  they  might  have  to  offer  of  the  nature  stated. 
They  accordingly  gave  me,  at  the  twenty  second  confer 
ence,  the  substance  of  nine  articles,  which  are  enclosed, 
[marked  M]  as  belonging  to  the  protocol  of  that  conference. 
They  were  not  put  into  a  formal  shape,  being  rather  the 
heads  of  subjects,  than  as  designed  to  be  expressed  in  full 
language. 

The  first  of  these  articles  relates  to  the  mutual  delivery  of 
criminals,  the  subjects  or  citizens  of  either  party,  taking  re 
fuge  in  the  dominions  of  the  other,  analogous  to  the  twenty- 
seventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  November,  1794,  so  far  as 


686  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

murder  and  forgery  were  concerned.  The  second  proposes 
arrangements  for  settling  the  claims  made  by  the  subjects  or 
citizens  of  either  party,  to  lands  situate  within  the  territories 
of  the  other  in  America,  and  arising  out  of  grants  heretofore 
made  by  authorities  competent,  at  the  time,  to  make  them. 
The  following  is  the  explanation  of  this  article :  At  the 
opening  of  the  negotiation,  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  in 
quired  whether  I  was  empowered  to  treat  of  certain  claims 
of  British  subjects  to  lands  in  Florida.  I  replied,  that  my 
instructions  embraced  no  allusion  whatever  to  such  a  sub 
ject,  arid  that,  if  brought  forward  by  Great  Britain,  all  that 
I  could  do,  would  be  to  refer  it  to  my  Government.  It  was 
the  first  mention  of  it  that  I  had  heard,  and  it  was  not  men 
tioned  afterwards.  It  is  to  this  subject  that  the  above 
article  points.  The  third  article  has  reference  to  the  non- 
confiscation  of  private  debts  in  case  of  war  between  the  two 
countries ;  as  the  fifth  has  to  the  protection  of  the  merchants 
on  each  side,  found  within  the  dominions  of  the  other,  on 
the  breaking  out  of  war,  as  under  the  tenth  and  twenty-sixth 
articles  of  the  treaty  of  1794.  Though  fully  aware  of  the 
importance  attached  to  the  principle  of  these  articles,  under 
your  instructions,  I  did  not  feel  myself  at  liberty  to  conclude 
engagements  concerning  them  in  a  detached  way.  After 
the  question  of  impressment  had  been  expunged,  and  all 
the  other  maritime  questions,  together  with  that  for  the 
abolition  of  private  war  upon  the  ocean,  which  I  could  not 
but  regard  as  the  chief  questions  contemplated  under  your 
dispatch  of  the  2Sth  of  July,  1823,  it  did  not  seem  to  me, 
either  necessary  or  judicious,  that  a  treaty  should  be  entered 
into  for  the  sake  of  these  two  articles  alone.  I  was  the  more 
swayed  to  this  opinion,  from  the  hope  which  may  reasonably 
be  cherished,  that  neither  nation  will  henceforth  be  dis 
posed  to  depart  in  practice  from  the  principles  which  these 
articles  sanctify,  though  not  now  confirmed  by  a  new  treaty, 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  587 

since  both  nations  have  formerly  agreed  to  them  in  this 
manner,  and  are  both  seen  at  this  day  substantially  ready  to 
propose  them  again  to  each  other's  acceptance. 

The  remainder  of  their  articles,  as  a  brief  recapitulation  of 
them  will  show,  are  only  of  subordinate  interest.  The 
fourth  provides  for  a  previous  statement  of  grievances,  and 
demand  of  redress,  before  a  resort  to  reprisals  by  either 
party,  like  the  twenty-second  article  of  the  treaty  of  '94. 
The  sixth  relates  to  wrecks  and  salvage,  as  is  common  in 
treaties  between  commercial  nations.  The  seventh  extends 
hospitality  to  vessels  of  either  party,  forced  by  stress  of 
weather  into  ports  of  the  other,  to  which  they  would  not, 
under  other  circumstances,  be  admissible ;  as  is  also  com 
mon,  and  as  has  place  in  the  treaty  of  '94.  The  eighth  con 
tains  a  provision  respecting  merchant  vessels  rescued  from 
pirates ;  and  the  ninth,  and  last,  a  provision  for  mutually 
exempting  the  consuls  of  each  nation,  within  the  territories 
of  the  other,  from  personal  service,  and  the  operation  of 
direct  taxes.  It  must  be  confessed,  that,  under  this  last  pro 
vision,  it  would  be  the  consuls  of  the  United  States  who 
would  derive  the  most  benefit. 

On  my  declining,  for  the  reasons  I  have  given,  to  con 
clude  any  arrangement  at  present  on  the  foregoing  articles, 
the  British  Plenipotentiaries  lamented,  that,  whilst  they  made 
the  inability  to  treat  of  impressment  no  obstacle  to  entering 
into  stipulations  concerning  them,  I  did.  To  this  I  replied, 
by  remarking  upon  the  obviously  different  ground  on  which 
the  two  nations  stood  in  this  particular.  To  the  United 
States,  the  question  of  impressment  was  absolutely  vital. 
To  Great  Britain,  it  was  of  little  concern,  further  than  as  it 
might  be  supposed  that  she  was  desirous  of  rendering  to  the 
United  States  justice  in  regard  to  it.  The  British  Plenipo 
tentiaries  here  repeated  the  unfeigned  regret  which  they 
said  they  felt,  at  our  preliminary  terms  having  precluded 


588  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

them  from  arranging,  at  so  favorable  a  season  of  peace,  this 
question,  which  they  desired  I  would  understand  that  they 
too  considered  as  one  of  great  moment.  Whilst  they  held 
their  right  to  resort  to  the  practice  of  impressment  to  be  fully 
sanctioned  by  the  general  voice  of  nations,  under  that 
maxim  which  entitled  every  nation  to  command  the  allegi 
ance  and  services  of  its  own  subjects,  they  were  not  un 
aware  that  the  practice  itself,  from  peculiar  and  insurmount 
able  causes,  pressed  heavily  upon  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  Hence,  they  had  been  most  anxious  to  come  to 
some  arrangement,  by  which  an  end  might  have  been  put 
to  this  source  of  contention ;  and  they  declared,  that  they 
would  have  accounted  it  amongst  the  happiest  and  proudest 
incidents  of  their  lives,  had  they  been  able  to  sign  with  me 
a  treaty,  by  which  so  imposing  a  bar  to  the  harmony  of  our 
respective  countries  could  have  been  effectually  and  perma 
nently  removed.  As  things  had  eventuated,  all  that  they 
could  say  was,  and  this  they  desired  to  say  in  a  spirit  the 
most  sincere  and  earnest,  that,  whenever,  in  future,  the 
practice  might  be  resorted  to,  it  would  be  in  a  manner  to 
give  the  least  possible  inconvenience  to  the  United  States, 
and  none  that  could  ever  be  avoided,  consistently  with 
what  was  imperiously  due  to  the  essential  rights  and  in 
terests  of  Great  Britain. 

I  joined  in  the  regrets  expressed  by  the  British  Plenipo 
tentiaries,  and,  I  will  presume  to  add,  in  a  spirit  not  less 
sincere.  I  lamented  our  failure  to  come  to  an  understand 
ing  upon  this  formidable  question ;  one  upon  which,  per 
haps,  the  peace  of  two  powerful  nations  hung.  I  spoke  of 
the  past  offers  of  the  United  States  for  its  settlement ;  how 
far  they  had  gone ;  how  far  they  would  still  go,  in  an  ac 
commodation  to  the  British  views.  They  had  offered  to 
abstain  from  employing  British  seamen  on  board  their  ves 
sels,  for  they  did  not  want  them  there,  having  seamen 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  589 

enough  of  their  own;  and  to  effect  this  exclusion,  they  offer 
ed  the  highest  enactments  and  sanctions  of  their  laws ; 
pledges  which  they  deemed  sufficient,  and  which  they  could 
never  help  thinking  might  be  accepted  as  sufficient.  It 
was  to  be  considered,  I  said,  that  impressment  was  a  ques 
tion  in  which  were  bound  up  the  highest  rights  and  interests 
of  the  United  States,  no  less  than  of  Great  Britain.  The 
United  States  admitted  not  the  doctrine  of  perpetual  alle 
giance.  As  the  rule  of  nations,  ancient  or  modern,  they 
denied  its  existence.  It  had  no  place  in  their  own  code, 
and  if  it  had  in  that  of  Britain,  it  was  but  as  a  municipal  rule 
and  ought  to  be  only  executed  at  home,  not  upon  the  high  seas 
on  board  the  vessels  of  an  independent  and  sovereign  state. 
The  latter  carried  with  it  the  assumption  of  a  right  of 
search  for  men.  This,  whether  as  a  right  direct  or  inci 
dental,  was  denied  by  the  United  States  to  have  the  least 
sanction  in  public  law.  The  bare  claim  was  affronting  to 
the  United  States,  in  the  dearest  attributes  of  their  national 
sovereignty.  I  declared,  that  I  too  would  have  hailed  it 
as  the  most  auspicious  act  of  my  life,  to  have  been  able  to 
mark  the  last  days  of  my  official  residence  at  his  Majesty's 
court,  by  putting  my  name  with  theirs  to  stipulations,  that 
would  have  closed  up  for  ever  this  fruitful  and  bitter  source 
of  strife  between  our  countries.  As  it  was,  it  was  only 
left  for  me  to  deplore  results,  under  which  so  high  and 
solid  a  satisfaction  had  vanished  from  me.  By  an  inter 
change  of  remarks  such  as  these,  neither  side  had  proposed 
to  itself  any  discussion  or  review  of  a  question  already 
dropped  from  our  discussions,  but  barely  to  give  expression 
to  sentiments  which  both  sides  have  such  good  cause-  for 
feeling,  at  the  abortive  issue  of  this  new  endeavor  to  get 
rid  of  the  evils  of  impressment. 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject  entirely,  I  feel  im 
pelled  to  one  or  two  extraneous  observations.     The  practice 

50 


590  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

of  seizing  men  by  force  for  the  supply  of  the  navy,  even  as  a 
lawful  exercise  of  municipal  authority  in  Britain,  is  one 
that  carries  with  it  such  a  disregard  of  the  liberty  of  the 
subject,  and  involves  such  an  aggravation  of  individual  hor 
rors,  that  the  propriety,  the  humanity,  and  the  very  policy, 
of  its  total  relinquishment,  even  in  her  own  dominions,  has 
not  escaped  the  thoughts  of  some  of  her  enlightened  men, 
as  due  to  all  such  considerations  as  well  as  to  the  genius  of 
her  free  institutions.  On  my  first  arrival  in  this  country,  I 
had  occasion  to  notice,  and  not  unfrequently,  evidences  of 
the  existence  of  this  feeling,  both  in  private  life  and  in  the 
discussions  of  the  press,  and  was  willing  to  give  way  to  the 
hope  of  its  further,  and,  at  no  very  distant  day,  efficient 
progress.  I  lament  to  say,  that  this  cheering  hope  has  for 
the  present  been  put  back  by  a  recent  indication,  the  rele 
vancy  of  which,  to  the  subject-matter  of  this  part  of  my 
report,  will  be  sufficient,  I  trust,  to  excuse  my  allusion  to  it. 
At  the  late  session  of  Parliament,  and  only  in  the  month  of 
June,  Mr.  Hume,  an  active  member  of  the  House  of  Com 
mons  from  Scotland,  introduced  into  the  House  a  motion 
expressly  upon  the  subject  of  impressment.  The  purport 
of  it  was,  that  "the  House,  being  well  aware  of  the  difficul 
ty  of  manning  the  navy  in  time  of  war,  and  of  the  evils  of 
forcibly  impressing  men  for  that  purpose,  and  considering 
that  a  time  of  profound  peace  would  best  admit  of  the  full 
est  and  fairest  examination  of  that  most  important  subject, 
would,  early  in  the  next  session  of  Parliament,  take  it  into 
their  serious  consideration,  with  a  view  to  the  adoption  of 
such  regulations  as  might  prevent  those  evils  in  future, 
consistently  with  the  efficiency  of  the  navy,  and  the  best 
interest  of  the  British  empire.37  In  giving  his  notice  of 
this  motion  he  declared,  as  one  motive  for  its  claims  upon 
the  attention  of  the  House,  that  it  would  be  a  part  of  his 
duty  in  discussing  it,  to  show,  that  in  the  event  of  a  new 
war  between  Great  Britain  and  any  of  the  European  powers, 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  591 

it  would  be  impossible  for  her  to  continue  the  practice  of 
impressment,  without  adding  the  United  States  to  the  list  of 
her  enemies.  It  is  a  fact,  to  be  deplored,  that  even  such  a 
motion  as  this,  a  motion  that  proposed  nothing  more  than  a 
future  and  guarded  consideration  of  a  subject  so  full  of 
international  importance,  (the  light  alone  in  which  it  is  of 
any  concern  to  the  United  States,)  should  have  been  scarce 
ly  listened  to  by  the  British  House  of  Commons!  It  was 
debated,  to  comparatively  empty  benches,  and  thrown  out 
by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  eight,  to  thirty-eight.  The 
most  impressive  part  of  this  public  fact  remains  to  be  dis 
closed.  This  motion,  which,  in  my  mere  capacity  as  an 
American  spectator  of  the  deliberations  of  the  British  Par 
liament,  I  cannot  hesitate  to  think  the  most  momentous  by 
far  in  its  bearing  upon  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country 
of  any  that  has  offered  itself  to  that  body  during  my  resi 
dence  of  nearly  seven  years  in  England — this  motion,  so 
far  as  I  know,  was  not  deemed  worthy  to  engage  the  atten 
tion  of  a  single  minister  of  the  crown.  It  is  certain,  that 
not  one  of  them  spoke  upon  it.  In  the  House  of  Commons 
— in  this  alleged  sanctuary  of  knowledge,  patriotism,  and 
statesmanship,  in  Britain — a  question,  implicating  the  high 
est  interests  of  two  whole  nations,  and  most  essentially 
their  future  peace,  passed  away  with  less  of  discussion  and 
excitement  than  might  have  been  given  to  a  bill  for  laying 
off  a  new  road,  or  enclosing  a  sterile  heath.  It  was  a  spec 
tacle  calculated  to  fill  with  pain  the  mind  of  an  American 
citizen,  and  I  have  adverted  to  it  in  no  other  spirit  than 
that  of  unmingled  sorrow  at  the  greater  distance  to  which, 
in  conjunction  with  the  failure  of  my  negotiation,  it  seems, 
under  present  circumstances,  to  have  removed  all  hope  of 
arriving  at  a  settlement  of  this  ever  perilous  and  exaspe 
rating  topic  of  international  hostility. 

Having  nothing  more  to  say  at  present  on  the  maritime 


592  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

questions,  I  leave  them.  The  protocols  in  which  they  are 
noticed  are,  the  thirteenth,  the  twenty-first,  and  the  twenty- 
second. 

VI.  NORTH  WEST  COAST  OF  AMERICA,  [OREGON.] — I 
now  come  to  the  last  of  the  subjects  that  the  President  con 
fided  to  me;  that  contained  in  your  instructions  of  the 
second  of  July,  1823,  relative  to  the  North  West  Coast  of 
America.  Although  no  arrangement  was  concluded  on 
this  subject,  it  is  not  the  less  incumbent  upon  me  carefully 
to  apprize  you  of  the  discussions  by  which  it  was  marked. 
They  will  probably  be  found  not  without  interest. 

In  one  of  my  preliminary  communications  respecting  the 
negotiation,  viz:  my  number  356,  I  informed  you,  that  I 
thought  it  necessary,  yielding  to  events  which  transpired 
after  your  instructions  were  received,  to  treat  of  this  subject 
of  the  North  West  Coast  with  this  Government  alone,  with 
out  considering  the  negotiation  as  common  also  to  Russia, 
as  had  been  contemplated  by  your  instructions.  For  thus 
deviating  from  your  instructions,  I  assigned  my  reasons, 
which,  as  they  weighed  strongly  with  me  at  the  time,  and 
do  not  appear,  from  any  lights  that  I  possess,  to  have  lost 
any  of  their  force  since,  I  must  hope  will  have  been  ap 
proved.  My  duty,  therefore,  will  now  be  confined  to  inform 
ing  you  of  the  discussions  which  took  place  in  my  hands 
with  Britain,  and  as  limited  to  the  interests  of  the  United 
States  and  Britain.  These  are  the  only  discussions,  I  may 
add,  with  which  I  have  any  acquaintance,  not  having  heard 
from  Mr.  Middleton  of  the  nature  of  those  carried  on  at 
St.  Petersburg,  though,  through  the  kindness  of  the  Russian 
Ambassador  at  this  court,  I  have,  very  recently,  been  ap 
prized  of  their  result.  It  is  probable  that  it  has  been 
through  some  accident  that  I  have  not  heard  from  Mr.  Mid 
dleton,  having  apprized  him  of  the  course  that  I  had  felt 
myself  compelled  to  adopt.  In  obedience  to  your  request, 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  593 

I  also  wrote  to  him  on  the  subject  of  the  slave  trade,  trans 
mitting  him  a  copy  of  the  convention  with  this  Government, 
as  soon  as  I  had  signed  it. 

In  another  of  my  communications,  written  before  the 
negotiation  opened,  viz.  my  number  358,  I  gave  you  a 
general  intimation  of  what  I  then  supposed  would  be  the 
terms  upon  which  this  Government  would  be  disposed  to 
arrange  with  us  the  questions  of  boundary  upon  the  north 
west  coast.  At  that  time,  however,  I  had  been  put  in  pos 
session  of  nothing  distinctive  or  final  upon  the  subject,  and 
was  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  negotiation  itself  for  the  full 
and  authentic  statement  of  the  Britsh  claims.  I  am  the 
more  particular  in  referring  back  to  this  latter  communica 
tion,  as  it  appears  that  I  was  under  important  misapprehen 
sions  in  it,  in  regard  to  the  true  nature  of  the  British  claims. 
They  proved,  on  formally  and  accurately  disclosing  them 
selves,  to  be  far  more  extensive  than  I  had  believed,  and 
were  advanced  in  a  manner  more  confident  than  I  had  even 
then  anticipated. 

I  opened  this  subject  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  at 
the  eleventh  conference.  I  remarked,  that,  although  it  had 
been  understood  in  my  preparatory  conversations  with  the 
proper  organ  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  that  the  respec 
tive  territorial  or  other  claims  of  the  United  States  and 
Russia,  as  well  as  of  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  regarding 
the  country  westward  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  were  to  be 
matter  of  separate  discussion  at  St.  Petersburg:  yet,  that 
those  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  were  now, 
according  to  the  understanding  in  subsequent  conversations, 
to  be  taken  up  for  formal  discussion  in  London.  My  Gov 
ernment  was  aware,  that  the  convention  of  October,  1818, 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  one  article  of 
which  contained  a  temporary  regulation  of  this  interest,  had 
still  four  years  to  run;  but  the  President,  nevertheless,  was 

50* 


594  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

of  opinion,  that  the  present  was  not  an  unsuitable  moment 
for  attempting  a  new  and  more  definite  adjustment  of  the 
respective  claims  of  the  two  powers  to  the  country  in  ques 
tion.  It  was  a  country  daily  assuming  an  aspect,  political, 
commercial,  and  territorial,  of  more  and  more  interest  to  the 
United  States.  It  bore  upon  their  relations  with  other 
states,  upon  their  fisheries  as  well  as  their  commerce  in  the 
Pacific,  upon  their  fur  trade,  and  the  whole  system  of  their 
intercourse  with  vast  tribes  of  the  Indians.  I  reminded  the 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  that,  by  the  third  article  of  the 
treaty  of  Washington,  of  February  the  twenty-second,  1819, 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  the  boundary  line 
between  the  two  countries  was  fixed,  in  part,  along  the 
southern  bank  of  the  Arkansas,  to  its  source,  in  latitude  42 
north,  and  thence  by  that  parallel  of  latitude,  to  the  south 
sea;  arid  that  Spain  had  also  renounced  to  the  United  States, 
by  the  same  article,  all  her  rights  north  of  that  parallel.  I 
then  made  known,  at  this  and  other  conferences,  for,  from 
the  extent  of  the  subject,  I  was  unable  even  to  open  it  all  at 
one  conference,  what  I  understood  to  be  the  nature  of  the 
title  of  the  United  States  to  the  whole  of  the  country  north 
of  the  parallel  stated.  I  said,  that,  apart  from  all  the  right 
,  as  thus  acquired  from  Spain,  which,  however,  was  regarded 
by  my  Government  as  surpassing  the  right  of  all  other 
European  Powers,  on  that  coast,  the  United  States  claimed, 
in  their  own  right,  and  as  their  absolute  and  exclusive 
sovereignty  and  dominion,  the  whole  of  the  country  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  from  the  42d  to  at  least  as  far  up 
as  the  51st  degree  of  north  latitude.  This  claim  they  rested 
-upon  their  first  discovery  of  the  river  Columbia,  followed 
up  by  an  effective  settlement  at  its  mouth,  a  settlement 
which  was  reduced  by  the  arms  of  Britain  during  the  late 
war,  but  formally  surrendered  up  to  the  United  States  at 
the  return  of  peace.  Their  right  by  first  discovery,  they 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  595 

deemed  peculiarly  strong,  having  been  made  not  only  from 
the  sea  by  Captain  Gray,  but  also  from  the  interior  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  who  first  discovered  its  sources,  and 
explored  its  whole  inland  course  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It 
had  been  ascertained,  that  the  Columbia  extended,  by  the 
river  Multnomah,  to  as  low  as  42  north ;  and  by  Clarke's 
river,  to  a  point  as  high  up  as  51,  if  not  beyond  that  point, 
and  to  this  entire  range  of  country,  contiguous  to  the  origi 
nal  dominion  of  the  United  States,  and  made  a  part  of  it  by 
the  almost  intermingling  waters  of  each,  the  United  States, 
I  said,  considered  their  title  as  established  by  all  the  princi 
ples  which  had  ever  been  applied  on  this  subject  by  the 
powers  of  Europe,  to  settlements  in  the  American  hemis 
phere.  I  asserted,  that  a  nation,  discovering  a  country,  by 
entering  the  mouth  of  its  principal  river  at  the  sea  coast, 
must  necessarily  be  allowed  to  claim,  and  hold,  as  great  an 
extent  of  the  interior  country,  as  was  described  by  the 
course  of  such  principal  river,  and  its  tributary  streams,  and 
that  the  claim,  to  this  extent,  became  doubly  strong,  where, 
as  in  the  present  instance,  the  same  river  had  also  been  dis 
covered  and  explored  from  its  very  mountain  springs  to  the 
sea.  Such  a  union  of  titles,  imparting  validity  to  each 
other,  did  not  often  exist.  I  remarked,  that  it  was  scarcely 
to  be  presumed,  that  any  European  nation  would  hence 
forth  project  any  colonial  establishment  on  any  part  of  the 
North  West  Coast  of  America,  which,  as  yet,  had  never  been 
used  to  any  other  useful  purpose,  than  that  of  trading  with 
the  aboriginal  inhabitants,  or  fishing  in  the  neighboring 
seas ;  hut  that  the  United  States  should  contemplate,  and  at 
one  day  form,  permanent  establishments  there,  was  naturally 
to  be  expected,  as  proximate  to  their  own  possessions,  and 
falling  under  their  immediate  jurisdiction.  Speaking  of  the 
powers  of  Europe  who  had  ever  advanced  claims  to  any 
part  of  this  coast,  I  referred  to  the  principles  which  had  been 


596  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

settled  by  the  Nootka  Sound  Convention  of  1790,  and  re 
marked  that  Spain  had  now  lost  all  her  exclusive  colonial 
rights  which  were  recognized  under  that  convention,  first,  by 
the  fact  of  the  Independence  of  the  South  American  states, 
and  of  Mexico,  and  next,  by  her  express  renunciation  of  all 
her  rights,  of  whatever  kind,  above  the  42d  degree  of  north 
latitude,  to  the  United  States.  Those  new  states,  would, 
themselves,  now  possess  the  rights  incident  to  their  condition 
of  political  independence,  and  the  claims  of  the  United  States 
above  the  42d  parallel,  as  high  up  as  60,  claims  as  well  in 
their  own  right,  as  by  their  succession  to  the  title  of  Spain, 
would  henceforth  necessarily  preclude  other  nations  from 
forming  colonial  establishments  upon  any  part  of  the  Ame 
rican  continents.  I  was  therefore  instructed  to  say,  that  my 
Government  no  longer  considered  any  part  of  those  conti 
nents  as  open  to  future  colonization  by  any  of  the  powers 
of  Europe,  and  that  this  was  a  principle  upon  which  I 
should  insist  in  the  course  of  the  negotiation. 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  I  first  laid  down  for  the  infor 
mation  of  this  Government,  the  principles  contained  in  your 
dispatch,  or  resulting  from  them.  I  combined  with  what 
you  had  written  to  me,  the  contents  of  the  message  of  tne 
President  to  Congress,  of  the  2d  of  December  last,  a  docu 
ment  which  I  could  not  but  regard  as  of  the  highest  solem 
nity,  towards  marking  out  my  duty,  although  I  had  not 
your  instructions  upon  it,  the  message  having  appeared 
since  your  dispatch  was  written.  I  added,  that  the  United 
States  did  not  desire  to  interfere  with  the  actual  settlements 
of  other  Nations  on  the  North  West  Coast  of  America,  and 
that  in  regard  to  those  which  Great  Britain  might  have 
formed  above  the  51st  degree  of  latitude,  they  would  re 
main,  with  all  such  rights  of  trade  with  the  natives,  and 
rights  of  fishery,  as  those  settlements  had  enjoyed  hitherto. 
As  regarded  future  settlements  by  either  of  the  parties,  I 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  597 

said  that  it  was  the  wish  of  my  Government  to  regulate 
these  upon  principles  that  might  be  mutually  satisfactory, 
and  tend  to  prevent  all  collision.  I  was  therefore  instructed 
to  propose,  first  the  extension  to  a  further  term  often  years, 
of  the  third  article  of  the  convention  of  October,  1818  ;  arid, 
secondly,  that  Britain  should  stipulate,  during  the  like  term, 
that  no  settlement  should  be  made  by  any  of  her  subjects, 
on  the  North  West  Coast  of  America,  or  the  islands  adjoining, 
either  south  of  the  fifty-first  degree  of  latitude,  or  north  of 
the  fifty-fifth  degree  :  the  United  States  stipulating  that 
none  should  be  made  by  their  citizens  north  of  the  fifty-first 
degree.  This  proposal  I  drew  up  in  form,  and  annexed  it 
(marked  F)  to  the  protocol  of  the  twelfth  conference.  I 
said,  that  these  limits  were  supposed  to  be  sufficient  to  se 
cure  to  Great  Britain  all  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from  the 
settlements  of  her  Northwest  and  Hudson's  bay  Companies 
on  that  coast  and  were  indicated  with  that  view. 

The  insertion  of  a  limit  of  ten  years  which  I  introduced 
as  applicable  to  the  above  restriction  upon  future  settle 
ments,  may  require  explanation.  In  your  dispatch  to  me, 
as  I  understood  it,  there  was  no  such  limit  of  time  specified. 
But,  in  your  instructions  to  Mr.  Middleton,  of  the  22d  of 
July,  1823,  which  you  enclosed  to  me,  I  perceived  that  there 
was  this  limit  introduced,  and  that  it  was  under  this  limit 
the  proposal  was  described  to  him  as  the  one  which  I  was 
to  submit  to  the  British  Government.  I  concluded  that  it 
would  be  erring  on  the  safe  side,  to  take,  in  this  particular, 
your  instructions  to  Mr.  Middleton,  as  my  guide,  and  I  did 
so  accordingly. 

It  is  proper  now  as  on  the  question  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
that  I  should  give  you  faithful  information  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  received  my  proposal, 
and  the  principles  under  which  I  had  introduced  it.  I  may 
set  out  by  saying  in  a  word,  that  they  totally  declined  the 


598  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

one,  and  totally  denied  the  other.  They  said  that  Great 
Britain  considered  the  whole  of  the  unoccupied  parts  of 
America,  as  being  open  to  her  future  settlements  in  like 
manner  as  heretofore.  They  included  within  these  parts  as 
well  that  portion  of  the  North  West  Coast  lying  between  the 
42d  and  the  51st  degrees  of  latitude,  as  any  other  parts. 
The  principle  of  colonization  on  that  coast,  or  elsewhere,  on 
any  portion  of  those  continents  not  yet  occupied,  Great 
Britain  was  not  prepared  to  relinquish.  Neither  was  she 
prepared  to  accede  to  the  exclusive  claim  of  the  United 
States.  She  had  not,  by  her  convention  with  Spain  in  1790, 
or  at  any  other  period,  conceded  to  that  power  any  exclu 
sive  rights  on  that  coast,  where  actual  settlements  had  not 
been  formed.  She  considered  the  same  principles  applica 
ble  to  it  now  as  then.  She  could  not  concede  to  the  United 
States,  who  held  the  Spanish  title,  claims  which  she  had 
felt  herself  obliged  to  resist,  when  advanced  by  Spain,  and 
on  her  resistance  to  which,  the  credit  of  Great  Britain  had 
been  thought  to  depend. 

Nor  could  Great  Britain  at  all  admit,  the  Plenipotentiaries 
said,  the  claim  of  the  United  States,  as  founded  on  their  own 
first  discovery.  It  had  been  objectionable  with  her  in  the 
negotiation  of  1818,  and  had  not  been  admitted  since.  Her 
surrender  to  the  United  States  of  the  post  at  Columbia  River 
after  the  late  war,  was  in  fulfilment  of  the  provisions  of  the 
first  article  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  without  affecting  ques 
tions  of  right  on  either  side.  Britain  did  not  admit  the  va 
lidity  of  the  discovery  by  Captain  Gray.  He  had  only  been 
on  an  enterprise  of  his  own,  as  an  individual,  and  the  British 
Government  was  yet  to  be  informed  under  what  principles 
or  usage,  among  the  nations  of  Europe,  his  having  first  en 
tered  or  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  river  Columbia,  admit 
ting  this  to  have  been  the  fact,  was  to  carry  after  it  such  a 
portion  of  the  interior  country  as  was  alleged,  Great  Bn- 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  599 

tain  entered  her  dissent  to  such  a  claim,  and,  least  of  all,  did 
she  admit  that  the  circumstance  of  a  merchant  vessel  of  the 
United  States,  having  penetrated  the  coast  of  that  continent 
at  Columbia  river,  was  to  be  taken  to  extend  a  claim  in  fa 
vor  of  the  United  States  along  the  same  coast,  both  above 
and  below  that  river,  over  latitudes  that  had  been  previously 
discovered  and  explored  by  Great  Britain  herself,  in  expedi 
tions  fitted  out  under  the  authority  and  with  the  resources 
of  the  nation.  This  had  been  done  by  Captain  Cook,  to 
speak  of  no  others,  whose  voyage  was  at  least  prior  to  that 
of  Captain  Gray.  On  the  coast,  only  a  few  degrees  south 
of  the  Columbia,  Britain  had  made  purchases  of  territory 
from  the  natives,  before  the  United  States  were  an  indepen 
dent  power,  and  upon  that  river  itself,  or  upon  rivers  which 
flowed  into  it  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  her  subjects 
had  formed  settlements  coeval  with,  if  not  prior  to,  the  set 
tlement  by  American  citizens  at  its  mouth. 

Such  is  a  summary  of  the  grounds  taken  at  the  very  out 
set  by  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  in  opposition  to  our 
claims.  On  my  remarking  immediately,  and  before  pro 
ceeding  to  any  discussion  of  them,  that  I  had  not  before 
been  aware  of  the  extent  and  character  of  all  these  objec 
tions,  they  replied,  that  it  was  also  for  the  first  time  that 
they  had  been  apprized,  in  any  authentic  and  full  way,  of 
the  nature  of  the  claims,  as  I  had  now  stated  them,  on  be 
half  of  the  United  States;  claims  which  they  said  they  were 
bound  to  declare,  at  once,  Great  Britain  was  wholly  un 
prepared  to  admit;  and,  especially,  that  which  aimed  at 
interdicting  her  from  the  right  of  future  colonization  in 
America. 

Resuming  the  subject,  I  said,  that  it  was  unknown  to  my 
Government,  that  Great  Britain  had  ever  even  advanced 
any  claim  to  territory  on  the  North  West  Coast  of  America, 
by  right  of  occupation,  before  the  Nootka  Sound  con- 


600  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

troversy.  It  was  clear,  that,  by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  of 
1763,  her  territorial  rights  in  America  were  bounded  west 
ward  by  the  Mississippi.  The  claim  of  the  United  States, 
under  the  discovery  by  Captain  Gray,  was,  therefore,  at  all 
events,  sufficient  to  overreach,  in  point  of  time,  any  that 
Great  Britain  could  allege  along  that  coast,  on  the  ground 
of  prior  occupation  and  settlement.  As  to  any  alleged  set 
tlements  by  her  subjects  on  the  Columbia,  or  on  rivers  fall 
ing  into  it,  earlier,  or  as  early,  as  the  one  formed  by  Ameri 
can  citizens  at  Astoria,  I  knew  not  of  them,  and  was  not 
prepared  to  admit  the  fact.  As  to  the  discovery  itself  of 
Captain  Gray,  it  was  not  for  a  moment  to  be  drawn  into 
question.  It  was  a  feet  before  the  whole  world.  The 
very  geographers  of  Britain  had  adopted  the  name  which 
he  had  given  to  this  river.  Vancouver  himself,  undoubted 
ly  the  first  British  navigator  who  had  ever  entered  it,  ad 
mitted  that  he  found  Captain  Gray  there ;  and  the  very 
instructions  to  this  British  officer,  drawn  up  in  March, 
1791,  and  to  be  seen  among  the  records  of  the  British  admi 
ralty,  expressly  referred  by  name,  to  the  previous  expedi 
tion  in  that  quarter  of  the  American  sloop,  the  Washington. 
Was  this,  I  asked,  to  be  accounted  nothing?  Did  it  lie 
with  a  foreign  power,  whose  own  archives  might  supply 
her  with  the  incontestible  fact  of  the  first  discovery  by  the 
vessel  of  another  power,  of  a  vast  river  whose  waters,  from 
their  source  to  the  ocean,  had  remained  until  then  totally 
unknown  to  all  civilized  nations;  did  it  lie  with  such  foreign 
power  to  say,  that  the  discovery  was  not  made  by  a  nation 
al  ship,  or  under  national  authority?  The  United  States,  I 
said, could  admit  no  such  distinction:  could  never  surrender, 
under  the  allegation  of  its  existence,  or  upon  any  ground, 
their  claim  to  this  discovery.  The  ship  of  Captain  Gray, 
whether  fitted  out  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
or  not,  was  a  national  ship.  If  she  was  not  so,  in  a  technical 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  601 

sense  of  the  word,  she  was  in  the  full  sense  of  it,  applicable 
to  such  an  occasion.  She  bore  at  her  stern  the  flag  of  the 
nation,  sailed  forth  under  the  protection  of  the  nation,  and 
was  to  be  identified  with  the  rights  of  the  nation.  The 
extent  of  interior  country  attaching  to  this  discovery,  was 
founded,  I  said,  upon  a  principle  at  once  reasonable  and 
moderate  ; — reasonable,  because,  as  discovery  was  not  to  be 
limited  to  the  local  spot  of  a  first  landing  place,  there  must 
be  a  rule  both  for  enlarging  and  circumscribing  its  range ; 
and  none  more  proper  than  that  of  taking  the  water  courses 
which  nature  had  laid  down,  both  as  the  fair  limits  of  the 
country,  and  as  indispensable  to  its  use  and  value; — mode 
rate,  because  the  nations  of  Europe  had  often,  under  their 
rights  of  discovery,  carried  their  claims  much  farther.  Here 
I  instanced,  as  sufficient  for  my  purpose,  and  pertinent  to  it, 
the  terms  in  which  many  of  the  royal  charters  and  letters 
patent  had  been  granted,  by  the  crown  in  England,  to  indi 
viduals  proceeding  to  the  discovery  or  settlement  of  new 
countries  on  the  American  continent :  amongst  others,  those 
from  Elizabeth,  in  1578,  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  and,  in 
1584,  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh:  those  from  James  I.  to  Sir 
Thomas  Gates,  in  1606  and  1607,  and  the  Georgia  charter 
of  1732.  All  these,  extracts  from  which  I  produced,  com 
prehended  a  range  of  country  fully  justifying  my  remark. 
By  the  words  of  the  last,  a  grant  is  passed  to  all  territories 
along  the  sea  coast,  from  the  river  Savannah  to  the  most 
southern  stream  "  of  another  great  river,  called  the  Alata- 
maha,  and  westward,  from  the,  heads  of  the  said  rivers,  in 
a  direct  line  to  the  South  Seas.7'  To  show  that  Britain  was 
not  the  only  European  nation  who,  in  her  territorial  claims 
on  this  continent,  had  had  an  eye  to  the  rule  of  assuming 
water  courses  to  be  the  fittest  boundaries,  I  also  cited  the 
charter  of  Louis  XIV.  to  Crozat,  by  which  "  all  the  country 
drained  by  the  waters  emptying  directly  or  indirectly  into 

51 


602  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

the  Mississippi"  is  declared  to  be  comprehended  under  the 
name,  and  within  the  limits,  of  Louisiana. 

If  Britain  had  put  forth  no  claims  on  the  North  West 
Coast,  founded  on  prior  occupation,  before  the  Nootka 
Sound  contest,  still  less  could  she  ever  have  established 
any,  I  remarked,  at  any  period,  founded  on  prior  discovery. 
Claims  of  the  latter  class  belonged  wholly  to  Spain,  and 
now,  consequently,  to  the  United  States.  The  superior 
title  of  Spain  on  this  ground,  as  well  as  others,  was,  indeed, 
capable  of  demonstration.  Russia  had  acknowledged  it  in 
1790,  as  the  state  papers  of  the  Nootka  Sound  controversy 
would  show.  The  memorial  of  the  Spanish  court  to  the 
British  Minister  on  that  occasion  expressly  asserted,  that, 
notwithstanding  all  the  attempted  encroachments  upon  the 
Spanish  coasts  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  Spain  had  preserved 
her  possessions  there  entire,  possessions  which  she  had  con 
stantly,  and  before  all  Europe,  on  that  and  other  occasions, 
declared  to  extend  to  as  high  at  least  as  the  60th  degree  of 
north  latitude.  The  very  first  article  of  the  Nootka  Sound 
convention,  attested,  I  said,  the  superiority  of  her  title :  for, 
whilst,  by  it,  the  nations  of  Europe  generally  were  allowed 
to  make  settlements  on  that  coast,  it  was  only  for  purposes 
of  trade  with  the  natives;  thereby  excluding  the  right,  of 
any  exclusive  or  colonial  establishments,  for  other  purposes. 
As  to  any  claim  on  the  part  of  Britain  under  the  voyage  of 
Captain  Cook,  I  remarked  that  this  was  sufficiently  super 
seded  (passing  by  every  thing  else)  by  the  journal  of  the 
Spanish  expedition  from  San  Bias,  in  1775,  kept  by  Don 
Antonio  Maurelle,  for  an  account  of  which,  I  referred  the 
British  Plenipotentiaries  to  the  work  of  Daines  Barrington, 
a  British  author.  In  that  expedition,  consisting  of  a  frigate 
and  schooner,  fitted  out  by  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  the 
North  West  Coast  was  visited  in  latitude  45,  47,  49,  53,  55, 
56,  57,  and  58,  not  one  of  which  points  there  was  good 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  603 

reason  for  believing,  had  ever  been  explored,  or  as  much  as 
seen,  up  to  that  day,  by  any  navigator  of  Great  Britain. 
There  was,  too,  I  said,  the  voyage  of  Juan  Peres,  prior  to 
1775;  that  of  Aguilar  in  1601,  who  explored  that  coast  in 
latitude  45;  that  of  de  Fuca  in  1592,  who  explored  it  in 
latitude  48,  giving  the  name,  which  they  still  bore,  to  the 
straits  in  that  latitude,  without  going  through  a  much  long 
er  list  of  other  early  Spanish  navigators  in  that  sea,  whose 
discoveries  were  confessedly  of  a  nature  to  put  out  of  view 
those  of  all  other  nations.  I  finished  by  saying,  that,  in  the 
opinion  of  my  Government,  the  title  of  the  United  States  to 
the  whole  of  that  coast,  from  latitude  42  to  as  far  north  as 
latitude  60,  was,  therefore,  superior  to  that  of  Britain,  or 
any  other  power:  first,  through  the  proper  claim  of  the 
United  States  by  discovery  and  settlement,  and,  secondly, 
as  now  standing  in  the  place  of  Spain,  and  holding  in  their 
hands  all  her  title. 

Neither  my  remarks  nor  my  authorities,  of  which  I  have 
endeavored  to  present  an  outline,  made  the  impression  upon 
the  British  Plenipotentiaries  which  I  was  desirous  that  they 
should  have  produced.  They  repeated  their  animated  de 
nials  of  the  title  of  the  United  States,  as  alleged  to  have  been 
acquired  by  themselves,  enlarging  and  insisting  upon  their 
objections  to  it,  as  I  have  already  stated  them.  Nor  were 
they  less  decided  in  their  renewed  impeachments  of  the  title 
of  Spain.  They  said,  that  it  was  well  known  to  them,  what 
had  formerly  been  the  pretensions  of  Spain  to  absolute  sove 
reignty  and  dominion  in  the  South  Seas,  and  over  all  the 
shores  of  America  which  they  washed  ;  but  that  these  were 
pretensions  which  Britain  had  never  admitted.  On  the  con 
trary,  she  had  constantly  and  strenuously  resisted  them.  They 
referred  to  the  note  of  the  British  minister  to  the  court  of 
Spain,  of  May  16th,  1790,  in  which  Britain  had  not  only 
asserted  a  full  right  to  an  uninterrupted  commerce  and  navi- 


604  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

gation  in  the  Pacific,  but  also  that  of  forming,  with  the  con 
sent  of  the  natives,  whatever  establishments  she  thought 
proper  on  the  northwest  coast,  in  parts  not  already  occupied 
by  other  nations.  This  had  always  been  the  doctrine  of 
Great  Britain,  and  from  it,  nothing  that  was  due,  in  her  esti 
mation,  to  other  powers,  now  colled  upon  her  in  any  degree 
to  depart.  As  to  the  alleged  prior  discoveries  of  Spain  all 
along  that  coast,  Britain  did  not  admit  them,  but  with  great 
qualification.  She  could  never  admit  that  the  mere  fact  of 
Spanish  navigators  having  first  seen  the  coast  at  particular 
points,  even  where  this  was  capable  of  being  substantiated 
as  the  fact,  without  any  subsequent  or  efficient  acts  of 
sovereignty  or  settlement  following  on  the  part  of  Spain, 
was  sufficient  to  exclude  all  other  nations  from  that  portion 
of  the  globe.  Besides,  they  said,  even  on  the  score  of  prior 
discovery  on  that  coast,  at  least  as  far  up  as  the  48th  degree 
of  north  latitude,  Britain  herself  had  a  claim  over  all  other 
nations.  Here  they  referred  to  Drake's  expedition  in  1578, 
who,  as  they  said,  explored  that  coast,  on  the  part  of  Eng 
land,  from  37  to  48  north,  making  formal  claim  to  these 
limits  in  the  name  of  Elizabeth,  and  giving  the  name  of 
New  Albion  to  all  the  country  which  they  comprehended. 
Was  this,  they  asked,  to  be  reputed  nothing  in  the  compari 
son  of  prior  discoveries,  and  did  it  not  even  take  in  a  large 
part  of  the  very  coast  now  claimed  by  the  United  States  as 
of  prior  discovery  on  their  side  ?  Such  was  the  character  of 
their  remarks  on  this  part  of  the  title.  In  connexion  with 
them,  they  called  my  attention  to  the  report  of  a  select  com 
mittee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  April  last,  on  the 
subject  of  Columbia  river.  There  is  a  letter  from  General 
Jesup  in  this  report,  adopted  by  the  committee  as  part  of 
the  report,  and  which,  as  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  said, 
had  acquired  importance  in  the  eyes  of  their  Government, 
from  that  fact.  They  commented  upon  several  passages  of 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  605 

of  this  letter,  a  newspaper  copy  of  which  they  held  in  their 
hands,  but  chiefly  on  that  part  which  contain's  an  intimation, 
that  a  removal  from  our  territory  of  all  British  subjects  now- 
allowed  to  trade  on  the  waters  of  the  Columbia,  might  be 
come  a  necessary  measure  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
as  soon  as  the  convention  of  1818  had  expired.  Of  this 
intimation  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  complained,  as  one 
calculated  to  put  Great  Britain  especially  upon  her  guard, 
arriving,  as  the  document  did,  at  a  moment  when  a  friendly 
negotiation  was  pending  between  the  two  Powers,  for  the 
adjustment  of  their  relative  and  conflicting  claims  to  that 
entire  district  of  country.  Had  I  any  knowledge,  they 
asked,  of  this  document  ? 

I  replied  that  I  had  not,  as  communicated  to  me  by  my 
Government.  All  that  I  could  say  of  it  was,  and  this  I 
would  say  confidently,  that  I  was  sure  it  had  been  conceiv 
ed  in  no  unfriendly  spirit  towards  Great  Britain.  Yet,  I 
was  bound,  unequivocally,  to  re-assert,  and  so  I  requested 
the  British  Plenipotentiaries  would  consider  me  as  doing, 
the  full  and  exclusive  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  over 
the  whole  of  the  territory  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
washed  by  the  river  Columbia,  in  manner  and  extent  as  I 
had  stated,  subject  of  course,  to  whatever  existing  conven 
tional  arrangements  they  may  have  formed  in  regard  to  it, 
with  other  Powers.  Their  title  to  this  whole  country  they 
considered  as  not  to  be  shaken.  It  had  often  been  pro 
claimed  in  the  legislative  discussions  of  the  nation,  and  was 
otherwise  public  before  the  world.  Its  broad  and  stable 
foundations  were  laid  in  the  first  uncontradicted  discovery 
of  that  river,  both  at  its  mouth  and  at  its  source,  followed 
up  by  an  effective  settlement ;  and  that  settlement  the  ear 
liest  ever  made,  upon  its  banks.  If  a  title  in  the  United 
States,  thus  transcendent,  needed  confirmation,  it  might  be 
sought  in  their  now  uniting  to  it  the  title  of  Spain.  It  was 


606  RESIDENCE   AT  THE  [1824 

not  the  intention  of  the  United  States,  I  remarked,  to  repose 
upon  any  of  the  extreme  pretensions  of  that  power  to  specu 
lative  dominion  in  those  seas,  which  grew  up  in  less  en 
lightened  ages,  however  countenanced  by  Papal  authority 
in  those  ages ;  nor  had  I,  as  their  Plenipotentiary,  sought  any 
aid  from  such  extreme  pretensions ;  but  to  the  extent  of  the 
just  claims  of  Spain,  grounded  upon  her  fair  enterprise  and 
resources,  at  periods  when  her  renown  for  both  filled  all 
Europe,  the  United  States  had  succeeded,  and  upon  claims  of 
this  character,  it  had  therefore  become  as  well  their  right  as 
their  duty  to  insist.  I  asserted  again  the  incontestable  priority 
of  Spanish  discoveries  on  the  coast  in  question.  I  referred  to 
the  voyage  of  Cortez,  who,  in  1537  discovered  California;  to 
those  of  Alargon  and  Coronado  in  1540;  to  that  of  Cabrillo 
in  1542,  all  of  whom  were  prior  to  Drake,  and  the  last  of 
whom  made  the  coast,  by  all  the  accounts  that  are  given,  as 
high  up  as  latitude  44.  As  to  Drake,  I  said,  that,  although 
Fleurieu,  in  his  introduction  to  Marchand,  did  assert,  that 
he  got  as  far  north  as  48,  yet  Hakluyt,  who  wrote  almost  at 
the  time  that  Drake  flourished,  informs  us,  that  he  got  no 
higher  than  43,  having  put  back  at  that  point  from  "  the  ex 
treme  cold."  All  the  later  authors  or  compilers,  also,  who 
spoke  of  his  voyage,  however  they  might  differ  as  to  the 
degree  of  latitude  to  which  he  went,  adopted  from  Hakluyt 
this  fact  of  his  having  turned  back,  from  the  intensity  of  the 
weather.  The  preponderance  of  probability,  therefore,  I 
alleged,  as  well  as  of  authority,  was,  that  Drake  did  not  get 
beyond  43  along  that  coast.  At  all  events,  it  was  certain 
that  he  had  made  no  settlements  there ;  and  the  absence  of 
these  would,  under  the  doctrine  of  Great  Britain,  as  applied 
by  her  to  Spain,  prevent  any  title  whatever  attaching  to  his 
supposed  discoveries.  They  were,  moreover,  put  out  of 
view  by  the  treaty  of  1763,  by  which  Britain  agreed  to  con- 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  607 

sider  the  Mississippi  as  her  western  boundary  upon  that 
continent. 

Our  discussions,  which  grew  into  length,  and  only  a  con 
densed  view  of  which  I  have  aimed  at  presenting  to  you, 
terminated  without  any  change  of  opinion  on  either  side. 
Having  stated  the  principal  points  which  marked  them,  my 
duty  seems  to  be  drawing  to  a  close,  without  the  necessity 
of  setting  before  you  all  the  amplifications  and  details  into 
which,  on  topics  so  copious,  they  would  sometimes  run. 
They  were  ended  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain,  by  her  Pleni 
potentiaries  repeating,  that  they  found  it  altogether  impossi 
ble  to  accede,  either  to  the  proposal  of  the  United  States,  or 
to  the  reasoning  invoked  in  its  support.  That,  nevertheless, 
they  desired  to  lay  a  foundation  of  harmony  between  the 
two  countries  in  that  part  of  the  globe  ;  to  close,  not  to 
leave  open,  sources  of  future  disagreement,  which  time 
might  multiply  and  aggravate.  That,  with  this  view,  and 
setting  aside  the  discordant  principles  of  the  two  Govern 
ments,  in  the  hope  of  promoting  it,  they  had  to  propose, 
first,  that  the  third  article  of  the  Convention  of  October, 
1818,  should  now  be  considered  as  at  an  end.  Secondly, 
that,  instead  of  it,  the  boundary  line  between  the  territories 
respectively  claimed  by  the  two  Powers,  westward  of  the 
"Rocky  Mountain,  should  be  drawn  due  west,  along  the 
49th  parallel  of  latitude,  to  the,  point  where  it  strikes  the 
northeasternmost  branch  of  the  Columbia,  and  thence, 
down,  along  the  middle  of  the  Columbia,  to  the  Pacific 
ocean  ;  the  navigation  of  this  river  to  be  forever  free  to  the 
subjects  and  citizens  of  both  nations  :  And  further,  that  the 
subjects  or  citizens  of  either,  should  not,  in  future,  be  al 
lowed  to  form  settlements  within  the  limits  to  be  thus  as 
signed  to  the  other,  with  a  saving  in  favor  of  settlements 
already  formed  within  the  prohibited  limits;  the  proprietors 


60S  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

or  occupants  of  which,  on  both  sides,  should  be  allowed  to 
remain  ten  years  longer. 

This  proposal  they  annexed,  in  form,  (marked  P,)  to  the 
protocol  of  the  twenty-third  Conference.  They  remarked, 
that,  in  submitting  it,  they  considered  Great  Britain  as  de 
parting  largely  from  the  full  extent  of  her  right;  and  that, 
if  accepted  by  the  United  States,  it  would  impose  upon  her 
the  necessity,  ultimately,  of  breaking  up  four  or  five  settle 
ments,  formed  by  her  subjects  within  the  limits  that  would 
become  prohibited,  and  that  they  had  formed,  under  the  be 
lief  of  their  full  right,  as  British  subjects,  to  settle  there. 
But  their  Government  was  willing,  they  said,  to  make  these 
surrenders,  for  so  they  considered  them,  in  a  spirit  of  com 
promise,  on  points  where  the  two  nations  stood  so  divided. 

I  instantly  declared  to  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  my 
utter  inability  to  accept  such  a  boundary  as  they  had  pro 
posed.  I  added,  at  the  same  time,  that  I  knew  how  the 
spirit  of  just  accommodation  also  animated  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  upon  this  occasion.  That,  in  com 
pliance  with  this  spirit,  and  in  order  to  meet  Great  Britain  on 
ground  that  might  be  deemed  middle,  I  would  consent  so 
far  to  vary  the  terms  of  my  own  proposal,  annexed  to  the 
twelfth  protocol,  as  to  shift  its  southern  line  as  low  as  49, 
in  place  of  51.  I  desired  it  to  be  understood,  that  this  was 
the  extreme  limit  to  which  I  was  authorized  to  go,  and 
that,  in  being  willing  to  make  this  change,  I  too  considered 
the  United  States  as  abating  their  rights,  in  the  hope  of 
being  able  to  put  an  end  to  all  conflict  of  claims  between 
the  two  nations,  to  the  coast  and  country  in  dispute. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  after  having  this  modifica 
tion  of  my  first  proposal  a  fortnight  under  consideration, 
rejected  it,  and  they  made  me  no  new  proposal  in  return. 
They  did  not,  in  terms,  enter  their  rejection  of  this,  my 
second  proposal,  on  the  protocol,  and  I  did  not  urge  it;  think- 


1524.]  COURT  OF  LOXDOX.  609 

ing  that  their  abstinence,  as  far  as  it  could  have  any  effect, 
might  tend  to  leave  the  door  somewhat  less  permanently 
closed  against  reconsideration,  should  the  proposal,  as  so 
modified  by  me,  ever  be  again  made.  But  it  is  right  for  me 
to  state,  that  they  more  than  once  declared,  at  the  closing 
hours  of  the  negotiation,  that  the  boundary  marked  out  in 
their  own  written  proposal,  was  one  from  which  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  must  not  expect  Great  Britain  to 
depart.* 

I  have  to  add,  that  their  proposal  was  first  made  to  me 
verbally,  at  the  twentieth  conference,  and  that  it  then 
embraced  an  alternative  of  leaving  the  third  article  of  the 
Convention  of  ISIS,  to  its  natural  course  and  limit.  But 
this  they  afterwards  controlled,  by  their  more  formal  and 
final  proposition  in  writing,  annexed,  as  before  described,  to 
the  protocol  of  the  twenty-third  conference. 

Having  made  you  acquainted  with  all  that  transpired  on 
this  subject,  I  close  it,  by  referring  to  the  protocols  in  which 
it  is  mentioned.  These  are,  the  eleventh,  the  twelfth,  the 
nineteenth,  the  twentieth,  and  the  twenty-third. 

I  have  now  gone  through  all  the  subjects,  and  feel  it  time 
to  come  to  a  conclusion.  I  have  made  no  omissions  that 
are  material,  of  which,  at  present,  I  have  any  consciousness. 
If,  on  reviewing,  at  full  leisure,  the  private  journals  from 

*  In  a  subsequent  negotiation  in  1827,  Britain  agreed  to  yield  to  the 
United  States  north  of  the  Columbia,  a  detached  territory,  as  Mr.  Greenhow, 
in  his  valuable  work  on  the  "History  of  Oregon  and  California,"  quotes 
it  from  the  official  document,  extending  on  the  Pacific  and  the  Strait  of 
Fuca,  from  Bulfmch's  Harbor  to  Hood's  Canal ;  but  adhered  to  her  claim  to 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Columbia,  and  her  coequal  right  to  the  free  navi 
gation  of  that  river.  I  am  uninformed  of  the  existing  state  of  the  negotia 
tions  between  the  two  Governments;  but  by  no  published  document  of  which 
I  have  knowledge,  has  the  British  Government  yet  departed  in  any  greater 
degree  from  the  ground  laid  down  in  the  twentieth  and  twenty-third  proto 
cols  of  the  above  negotiation  which  1  conducted  in  1824. 


610  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

which  I  have  selected  the  materials  of  this  official  dispatch, 
I  discover  omissions,  I  will  take  care  that  they  shall  be  sup 
plied  by  a  supplemental  communication.  I  have  laid  before 
you  a  faithful,  I  would  hope  an  intelligible,  account  of  the 
progress,  the  character,  and  the  results,  of  the  whole  negotia 
tion.  The  importance,  to  use  the  appropriate  words  of  your 
own  dispatch  to  me  of  the  29th  of  July  1823,  of  most  of  its 
subjects,  the  complicated  character  of  the  considerations 
involved  in  them,  and  their  momentous  bearings  in  present 
and  future  ages  upon  the  interests,  the  welfare,  and  the 
honour  of  the  United  States,  I  have  felt,  deeply  felt,  through 
out  the  protracted  period  allotted  to  their  investigation  and 
discussion.  A  load  of  responsibility  and  solicitude  has 
weighed  unceasingly  upon  my  mind.  A  just,  I  will  add  a 
painful,  sense  of  the  great  duty  that  was  confided  to  me, 
has  never  been  absent  from  my  thoughts.  If  it  had  been 
the  pleasure  of  the  President  to  have  assigned  me  a  col 
league  in  its  exercise,  I  should  have  felt  thankful,  having, 
as  I  took  the  liberty  to  say  before  it  came  on,  entertained 
unfeigned  distrust  in  my  own  unassisted  endeavors.  For 
a  proper  estimate  of  what  was  due  from  me,  for  zeal, 
for  good  intentions,  for  diligence,  I  must  humbly  hope  that 
the  confidence  reposed  in  me,  has  not  been  misplaced.  For 
the  rest,  I  cannot  answer.  Now,  that  the  negotiation  is 
over,  I  cannot  presume  to  hope,  that  the  manner  in  which  I 
have  conducted  it,  under  all  the  many  aspects  which  it 
assumes,  aspects  unforeseen,  and  to  me,  often  as  difficult  as 
unforeseen,  will  be  deemed  to  have  been  always  above 
exception.  Constantly,  as  I  looked  to  the  guiding  light  of 
your  instructions,  and  ample  as  was  the  light  shed  by  them 
over  my  general  path,  there  were,  there  must  have  been,  in 
the  progress  of  voluminous  discussions,  where  not  the  just 
desires  of  one  nation  only,  but  the  clashing  interests  of  two, 
were  at  stake,  points  for  which  your  instructions  did  not  pro- 


1824.]  COURT   OF   LONDON.  611 

vide.  Reposing  upon  all  these  occasions  on  their  general 
spirit,  I  must  seek  solace  in  the  consciousness,  that  however 
unsuccessful  the  issue  of  my  endeavors,  they  were  always 
well  meant;  and  in  the  hope,  that  in  their  general 
character  and  tendency,  they  will  be  looked  at  with  an  in 
dulgence  proportioned  to  the  anxious  desire  for  my  country's 
good,  in  which  I  feel  sure  it  will  be  believed  they  ever  origi 
nated.  Of  the  questions  which  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  discuss 
with  this  nation,  those  that  were  old,  were  full  of  difficulty, 
and  had  proved  baffling  in  hands  more  skilful  than  mine,  in 
times  that  are  passed.  Of  those  that  were  new,  some  were 
of  great  magnitude,  and  found  to  be  encompassed  with  diffi 
culties  not  less  formidable  and  intrinsic.  Nor  will  it,  I  hope, 
be  reputed  out  of  place  with  my  duty,  or  with  the  solem 
nity  of  this  communication,  to  close  it  finally  by  the  remark, 
that  the  negotiation,  of  which  it  has  aimed  at  exhibiting  an 
authentic  history,  has  been  conducted  with  a  nation,  not 
only  mighty  in  her  power,  but  not  easily  turned  aside  from 
her  purposes.  The  deliberate  determinations  to  which  she 
appears  for  the  present  to  have  come  in  this  negotiation,  I 
have  felt  it  an  imperious  duty  to  report,  without,  in  any 
instance,  abating  the  force  of  any  of  the  considerations  by 
which  I  understood  her  Plenipotentiaries  to  expound  and 
maintain  them. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

Sir, 
With  very  great  respect, 

Your  obedienit  servant, 
RICHARD  RUSH 

The  Honorable 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS, 
Secretary  of  State. 


612  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

[The  Protocols  not  inserted  in  the  series  that  follow,  were 
those  which  recorded  the  proceedings  of  the  Plenipotentia 
ries  in  framing  the  Slave  Trade  Convention,  and  were  trans 
mitted  to  the  Secretary  of  Slate  with  that  Convention.] 

Protocol  of  the  third  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
February  51  h,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

In  pursuance  of  previous  agreement,  Mr.  Rush  brought 
forward  the  propositions  of  his  Government  respecting  the 
trade  between  the  British  colonies  in  North  America  and 
the  West  Indies,  and  the  United  States,  including  the  navi 
gation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  by  vessels  of  the  United  States. 

On  concluding  the  statement  with  which  Mr.  Rush  intro 
duced  these  proposals,  in  explanation  of  the  views  and 
antecedent  proceedings  of  his  Government,  he  gave  in  the 
three  articles  which  are  hereunto  annexed,  (marked  A.) 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  in  receiving  the  articles 
thus  presented  to  them  for  consideration,  confined  them 
selves  to  stating  their  first  impressions  as  to  the  scope  and 
extent  of  the  American  proposals,  and  the  extreme  difficulty 
resulting  therefrom,  observing  on  such  parts  of  the  American 
Plenipotentiary's  statement  as  appeared  to  them  to  call  for 
immediate  objection,  or  to  admit  of  satisfactory  explanation. 

Adjourned  to  Monday,  the  16th  instant,  at  2  o'clock. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  613 


Protocol  of  the  eighth  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  ISth  of  March,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

Another  original  copy  of  the  Convention  on  the  subject 
of  the  Slave  Trade,  having  been  prepared,  at  the  request  of 
the  American  Plenipotentiary,  with  the  view  of  enabling 
him  to  transmit  that  instrument  in  duplicate  to  his  Govern 
ment,  was  read  over,  and  upon  its  proving  to  be  perfectly 
correct,  was  signed  by  the  Plenipotentiaries  on  both  sides. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the  ninth  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  25th  of  March,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  stated,  that  not  being  yet  at 
liberty,  from  circumstances  already  explained,  to  make  a 

52 


614  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

full  communication  with  respect  to  the  three  articles  pro 
posed  by  Mr.  Rush  at  the  third  conference,  while  they  were 
disposed,  in  the  spirit  of  that  perfect  amity  and  good  will 
which  subsisted  between  the  respective  Governments,  to 
treat  of  the  free  navigation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence  by 
American  vessels,  on  the  principle  of  accomodation  and  mu 
tual  concession,  they  thought  it  desirable  that  the  American 
Plenipotentiary  should  at  once  bring  forward  the  proposals 
of  his  Government,  on  the  several  questions  already  sub 
mitted  by  him  for  negotiation. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  readily  acquiesced  in  the 
expediency  of  this  course,  on  the  obvious  understanding 
that  the  views  of  the  British  Government  would  be  in  turn 
communicated  to  him.  He  consequently  gave  in  the  p^aper 
D,  annexed  hereto,  as  containing  the  proposal  of  jfis  Govern- 
ment  for  endeavouring  to  adjust,  by  compromise,  the  differ 
ences  arising  under  the  5th  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent. 

Mr.  Rush  remarked,  at  the  same  time,  on  the  extreme 
difficulties  attending  an  arbitration,  as  prescribed  by  that 
treaty;  and  stated  his  conviction,  that  his  Majesty's  late 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  had  signified  to  him 
the  assent  of  the  British  Government,  to  his  proposal  of  en 
deavoring  to  settle  the  points  at  issue  by  direct  communica 
tion  between  the  two  Governments. 

In  reply  to  a  question  from  the  British  Plenipotentiaries, 
Mr.  Rush  informed  them  that  he  was  not  prepared,  in  case 
of  his  proposal  being  finally  accepted,  to  submit  any  partic 
ular  terms  of  compromise  for  settling  the  disputed  boundary, 
though  he  was  persuaded  that  his  Government  in  proposing 
a  negotiation  upon  that  principle,  looked  with  confidence  to 
its  issuing  in  an  agreement  satisfactory  to  both  parties ;  and, 
also,  that,  in  the  event  of  an  arbitration  being  insisted  on, 
his  present  instructions  would  enable  him  to  proceed  at 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  615 

once  to  the  concurrent  selection  of  an  arbitrator,  agreeably 
to  the  treaty  of  Ghent. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  next  conference  should  be  held  on 
Monday  next,  the  29th  instant,  when  the  American  Pleni 
potentiary  would  be  prepared  to  continue  his  communication 
of  the  proposals  of  his  Government. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the  tenth  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  29th  of  March,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  entered  upon  the  subject 
of  the  Newfoundland  Fishery.  He  stated,  at  length,  the 
circumstances  constituting  the  case  which  his  Government 
thought  it  advisable  to  bring  under  the  view  of  the  British 
Government,  and  concluded  by  giving  in,  as  a  memorandum 
of  his  statement,  the  paper  marked  E,  annexed  to  the  pre 
sent  protocol. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  after  making  such  inquiries 
of  Mr.  Rush,  as  they  deemed  conducive  to  a  thorough  un 
derstanding  of  the  points  in  question,  agreed  to  meet  him 
again  in  conference,  on  Thursday,  the  1st  of  April. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


616  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 


Protocol  of  the  eleventh  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  1st  of  rfpril,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over, 
and  signed. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  opened  the  subject  of 
territorial  claims  on  the  Northwest  Coast  of  America  west 
ward  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  having  been  understood 
that  the  pretension  which  had  been  put  forward  by  the 
Cabinet  of  St.  Petersburg,  respecting  its  jurisdiction  in  that 
quarter,  was  to  be  a  matter  of  separate  discussion  between 
the  respective  parties,  he  observed,  that,  notwithstanding 
this  circumstance,  and  although  the  Convention  of  October, 
1818,  one  article  of  which,  contained  a  temporary  regula 
tion  with  respect  to  the  above  mentioned  claims,  had  still 
four  years  to  continue,  his  Government  was  of  opinion  that 
the  present  was  not  an  unsuitable  moment  for  attempting  a 
settlement  of  the  boundary  on  the  Northwest  Coast  of 
America  westward  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  he  there 
fore  proceeded  to  explain  the  nature  of  the  claims  which  his 
Government  thought  itself  entitled  to  advance. 

His  statement  not  being  completed  in  the  present  confer 
ence,  Mr.  Rush  undertook  to  resume  it  on  the  following  day. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  617 

Protocol  of  the  twelfth  conference,  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  2d  of  April,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  resumed  the  communica 
tion  which  he  had  commenced  in  that  conference,  on  the 
subject  of  the  territorial  claims  on  the  Northwest  Coast  of 
America,  westward  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  concluded, 
by  giving  in  the  paper  marked  F,  annexed  hereto,  as  con 
taining  the  proposal  of  his  Government  on  that  head. 
Adjourned  to  Monday  the  5th  of  April. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the  thirteenth  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade  on  the  5th  of  April,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  stated  that,  in  addition  to 
the  questions  submitted  for  negotiation  at  the  preceding 
conferences,  he  was  instructed  to  treat  with  Great  Britain 

52* 


618  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

on  various  subjects  of  maritime  law,  heretofore  in  discussion 
between  the  two  countries ;  and,  also,  on  that  of  the  aboli 
tion  of  privateering,  and  the  exemption  from  all  capture  of 
private  property  in  merchant  ships  at  sea.  Amongst  the 
former  subjects,  he  mentioned  that  of  impressment  as  of 
leading  importance. 

He  added  that,  as  he  was  not  authorized  to  assent  to  any 
thing  new  in  principle,  on  such  of  these  points  as  had  been 
discussed  on  former  occasions,  it  was  right  for  him  to  pre 
mise  that,  unless  the  British  Government  were  ready  to 
negotiate  with  the  understanding  that  the  views,  which 
they  had  heretofore  entertained  on  them,  were  essentially 
changed,  or  likely,  in  the  course  of  negotiation,  to  be  mate 
rially  modified,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  would 
prefer,  on  the  whole,  not  bringing  these  questions  under  dis 
cussion  at  the  present  time. 

After  stating  the  general  political  considerations  which 
had  induced  his  Government  to  make  this  overture,  he  in 
formed  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry 
on  their  part,  that,  although  he  was  willing  to  treat  of  im 
pressment  alone,  he  should  not  feel  inclined  to  enter  on  the 
other  points  of  maritime  law,  unless  the  question  of  im 
pressment  were,  at  the  same  time,  received  by  his  majesty's 
ministers,  as  part  of  that  negotiation. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  having  further  asked  whether 
any  additional  securities  would  be  proposed  or  admitted  by 
the  American  Government,  against  the  employment  of  Bri 
tish  natural  born  subjects  in  the  merchant  vessels  of  the 
United  States,  the  American  Plenipotentiary  replied  that  he 
had  none  to  offer,  essentially  differing  from  those  brought 
forward  in  former  negotiations. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  619 


Protocol  of  the  fourteenth  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  I3th  ofdpril,  1824. 

PRESENT. — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

After  the  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  had  been 
agreed  to  and  signed,  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  stated 
that  they  had  invited  Mr.  Rush  to  an  interview,  in  order  to 
inform  him,  that,  in  consequence  of  the  inquiries  which  they 
had  made,  as  to  the  right  of  fishing  on  the  western  coast  of 
Newfoundland,  they  conceived  that  the  case,  as  previously 
described  by  him,  was  hardly  of  a  nature  to  be  entertained 
among  the  subjects  of  the  present  negotiation. 

The  citizens  of  the  United  States  were  clearly  entitled, 
under  the  Convention  of  October,  1818,  to  a  participation 
with  His  Majesty's  subjects,  in  certain  fishing  liberties  on 
the  coasts  of  Newfoundland:  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  might,  therefore,  require  a  declaration  of  the  extent 
of  those  liberties,  as  enjoyed  by  British  subjects,  under  any 
limitations  prescribed  by  treaty  with  other  powers,  and  pro 
tection  in  the  exercise  of  the  liberties  so  limited,  in  common 
with  British  subjects,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  His  Majesty, 
as  sovereign  of  the  island  of  Newfoundland ;  and  that  such 
declaration  and  protection,  if  necessary,  might  be  applied 
for  in  the  regular  diplomatic  course;  but  that  it  was  to  be 
observed,  that  the  question  appeared  to  have  been  in  some 
degree  varied ;  first,  by  the  line  of  argument  pursued  in  the 
correspondence  between  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Viscount  Chateau- 


620  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

briand,  the  latter  having  rested  his  claim  to  the  right  of 
excluding  the  United  States  from  the  fisheries  on  those  parts 
of  the  coast  of  Newfoundland,  to  which  the  above  men 
tioned  correspondence  applied,  upon  engagements  contracted 
by  the  American  Government  towards  that  of  France,  long 
before  October,  1818:  according  to  his  construction  of 
which  engagements,  the  United  States  had  virtually  ren 
dered  their  exercise  of  the  liberty  of  fishing  between  Cape 
Ray  and  the  Quirpon  Islands,  conceded  by  Great  Britain, 
dependent  on  the  compliance  of  His  Most  Christian  Ma 
jesty;  and,  secondly,  by  the  consent  of  the  American  Gov 
ernment,  to  open  discussions  on  this  subject,  at  Washing 
ton,  with  the  French  Charge  d' Affaires. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  protesting  wholly  against 
the  grounds  assumed  by  France,  as  impairing  in  any  degree 
the  fishing  rights  of  the  United  States,  held  under  the  Con 
vention  of  October  the  20th,  1818,  and  not  admitting  that 
any  correspondence  which  had  taken  place  between  the 
Governments  of  the  United  States  and  France  upon  this 
subject,  could  affect  any  of  those  rights,  remarked,  that  his 
main  object  being  to  bring  the  question  which  had  arisen 
between  the  United  Sates  and  France  fully  under  the  notice 
of  the  Government  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  with  a  view  to 
the  objects  stated  in  his  paper  marked  E,  (annexed  to  the 
protocol  of  the  10th  conference,)  he  should  adopt  the  course 
of  addressing  an  official  representation  upon  the  whole  sub 
ject  to  His  Majesty's  principal  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs. 

RICHARD  RUSH. 
W.  HUSKISSON. 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  621 


Protocol  of  the  fifteenth  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  4th  of  June,  1S24. 

PRESENT. — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  stated,  that,  having  received 
the  instructions  of  their  Government  on  the  various  impor 
tant  and  extensive  questions  submitted  for  negotiation,  they 
were  now  prepared  to  communicate  fully  and  definitively 
thereon  with  the  American  Plenipotentiary. 

Beginning  with  the  articles  of  colonial  intercourse,  pro 
posed  by  him  at  the  third  conference,  they  explained  at 
large  the  sentiments  of  their  Government,  showing  what 
insuperable  objections,  alike  in  principle  as  in  practice,  pre 
cluded  Great  Britain,  in  their  estimation,  from  acceding  to 
the  articles  in  question,  except  with  the  omission  of  such 
parts  as  stipulated,  in  reference  to  that  intercourse,  for  a 
complete  assimilation  of  the  duties  on  imports  from  the 
United  States  into  the  colonies,  to  those  levied  on  like  im 
ported  articles,  the  produce  of  His  Britanic  Majesty's  pos 
sessions. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  stated,  that  he  was  not 
authorized  to  sign  the  proposed  articles,  without  a  full  stipu 
lation  to  the  preceding  effect;  but  that  he  was  instructed  to 
invite  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  in  case  of  the  terms 
which  he  had  offered  riot  being  accepted,  to  bring  forward 
counter  proposals,  which  he  should  be  ready  to  transmit, 


622  RESIDENCE    AT  THE  [1824. 

together  with  any  explanations.,  for  consideration,  to  his 

Government. 

Adjourned  to  Tuesday,  the  8th  instant. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the,  sixteenth  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  Sth  of  June,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 


The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  after  further  discussion  in 
relation  to  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  certain  of  the  British  colonies,  gave  in  the 
annexed  counter  projet  on  that  subject,  in  reference  to  what 
had  passed  at  the  preceding  conference,  observing,  at  the 
same  time,  that  the  first  two  articles  of  the  proposal  com 
municated  by  the  American  Plenipotentiary  in  their  third 
conference  with  him,  had,  in  their  opinion,  no  necessary 
connection  with  the  third,  relating  to  the  navigation  of  the 
river  St.  Lawrence,  and,  that  they  conceived  it  would  be 
more  convenient  to  treat  of  them  separately. 

Adjourned  to  Tuesday,  the  15th  instant. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  623 


Protocol  of  the  seventeenth  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  15/A  of  June,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  stated,  that,  in  pursuance  of 
the  proposals  of  the  American  Government,  they  were 
ready  to  enter  into  stipulations  for  settling,  by  compromise, 
the  several  questions  which  had  arisen  under  the  fifth  article 
of  the  treaty  of  Ghent ;  and  that,  agreeably  to  the  dispo 
sition  which  they  had  expressed  in  a  former  conference,  to 
treat  of  the  navigation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence  by  vessels 
of  the  United  States,  on  principles  of  accommodation  and 
mutual  concession,  they  now  proposed  to  negotiate  on  that 
subject  in  connection  with  the  said  questions  which  affect 
the  boundary  of  the  British  and  American  territories, 
throughout  the  region  contiguous  to  that  part  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  which  flows  exclusively  through  His  Majsty's 
dominions.  They  intimated,  at  the  same  time,  that  the 
course  which  they  proposed  in  this  manner  to  pursue,  was 
founded  on  the  understanding,  that  the  navigation  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  throughout  his  Majesty's  territories,  was  not 
to  be  claimed  by  the  United  States  as  a  right ;  and  this  inti 
mation  they  accompanied  with  an  exposition  of  the  very 
decided  opinion  entertained  by  their  Government  against 
such  an  absolute,  independent  claim. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  said,  that  he  was  not  able 


624  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

to  go  into  the  proposed  negotiation,  as  relating  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  on  the  principle  of  concession,  but,  on  the  con 
trary,  that  his  instructions  imposed  upon  him  the  obligation 
of  pressing  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the  entire  navi 
gation  of  that  river,  expressly  on  the  ground  of  independent 
right,  and  that  he  conceived  it  would  be  his  duty,  in  assert 
ing  that  claim,  to  enter  it  so  grounded  on  the  protocol  of 
the  conferences. 

It  was  agreed,  however,  that  it  would  be  convenient,  on 
the  whole,  to  postpone  any  decided  step  thereupon  until  the 
ensuing  conference. 

Adjourned. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the  eighteenth  conference  of  the  American 
and  British- Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  19  th  of  June,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary,  referring  to  that  confer 
ence,  stated,  that  he  felt  himself  bound  to  present  the  claim, 
of  the  United  States  to  a  concurrent  enjoyment  of  the  navi 
gation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  from  its  source  to  the  sea, 
on  the  express  ground  of  independent  right.  He  said  that 
he  had  indeed  been  at  liberty  to  exercise  his  judgment  as 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  625 

to  the  time  and  manner  of  presenting  that  claim :  but  he 
was  positively  instructed  to  urge  it,  in  the  course  of  the 
negotiations,  in  the  above  decided  sense  of  right ;  that  other 
wise  he  should  have  been  obliged  to  prefer  the  same  claim 
by  direct  application  to  the  foreign  department.  It  was  in 
discharge  of  the  duty  thus  imposed  upon  him,  that  he  gave 
in  the  annexed  paper  marked  B,  containing  a  distinct  expo 
sition  of  the  views  and  principles  on  which  the  above- 
mentioned  claim  of  the  American  Government  was  sus 
tained. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  on  receiving  this  declara 
tion  and  written  argument  from  Mr.  Rush,  observed,  that 
it  became  their  duty  to  deny,  and  they  did  therefore  deny, 
in  explicit  terms,  the  right  so  claimed  on  behalf  of  the 
United  States  to  navigate,  in  common  with  British  subjects, 
that  part  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence  which  flows  exclusively 
through  His  Majesty's  territories;  they  added,  that  they 
could  not  conceal  the  surprise  which  they  felt  at  learning 
that  such  a  right  was  to  be  asserted  by  the  American 
Government,  especially  as  it  must  necessarily  have  the 
effect  of  tying  up  their  hands  with  respect  to  the  instruc 
tions  which  they  had  received  from  their  Government  on  a 
very  different  apprehension  of  the  subject,  and  which  they 
had  no  hesitation  in  describing  as  founded  on  a  most  liberal 
and  comprehensive  view  of  the  wishes  and  interests  of  the 
United  States,  with  respect  to  the  disputed  points  of  the 
boundary  line  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent, 
no  less  than  as  touching  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
which  they  had  considered,  on  the  principle  of  accommo 
dation  and  mutual  concession,  as  supplying  additional  means 
for  the  satisfactory  adjustment  of  those  disputed  points,  by 
negotiation  and  compromise. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary,  in  supporting  the  claim  of 
his  Government,  averred  that  it  was  not  put  forward  in  any 

53 


626  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 

unfriendly  spirit,  but  with  reference  to  such  of  the  national 
interests  as  were  immediately  concerned  in  the  question, 
and  that  it  was  subject,  of  course,  to  the  operation  of  further 
discussion  between  the  two  Governments,  and  a  frank  com 
munication  of  their  respective  sentiments. 
Adjourned. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the  nineteenth  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  26th  of  June,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  stated,  that,  having  con 
sidered  the  declaration  made  by  Mr.  Rush  in  that  conference, 
concerning  the  independent  right  of  the  United  States  to  the 
entire  navigation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  written 
argument  which  he  had  annexed  to  the  protocol  in  support 
of  that  right,  they  felt  themselves  called  upon  to  communi 
cate  in  a  manner  equally  explicit,  and  formal,  the  ground  on 
which  their  Government  denied  a  right  of  the  description 
asserted  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  They  added,  that, 
although  the  opinions  which  they  had  already  declared  on 
that  point  were  unchanged,  they  thought  it  due  to  the 
gravity  and  importance  of  the  question,  not  to  give  in  their 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  627 

reply  to  the  American  argument  until  it  had  received  the 
full  sanction  of  the  highest  professional  authorities  in  the 
country,  on  matters  relating  to  the  law  of  nations.  For  the 
accomplishment  of  this  object,  an  interval  of  some  days  was 
obviously  requisite  and  therefore,  to  delay  as  little  as  possi 
ble  the  progress  of  the  negotiations,  they  proposed  to  pass 
on  for  the  present  to  the  questions  of  boundary  on  the  North 
west  coast  of  America. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  said,  that  any  delay,  as 
to  the  question  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  did  not,  in  his  opinion, 
affect  the  points  to  be  adjusted  under  the  fifth  article  of  the 
treaty  of  Ghent,  arid  that  he  desired  to  proceed  at  once  to 
the  conclusion  of  an  agreement  by  which  those  points 
should  be  referred  to  a  direct  negotiation  between  the  two 
Governments,  as  before  proposed  by  him.  But,  as  it  ap 
peared,  on  discussing  these  matters,  that  Mr.  Rush  was  au 
thorized  only  to  take  ad  referendum  any  counter  proposals 
of  the  British  Government  on  the  abovementioned  points^ 
(whether  those  counter  proposals  conveyed  any  positive 
terms  of  compromise  or  only  such  arrangements  as  the 
British  Plenipotentiaries  conceived  must  necessarily  accom 
pany  the  mere  agreement  to  settle  the  points  at  issue  by 
compromise,)  and  that  his  instructions  would  not  allow  of 
his  concluding  any  thing  at  present  with  the  British  Pleni 
potentiaries  as  to  the  various  preparatory  steps  indispensa 
ble  for  carrying  the  disputed  points  of  the  fifth  article  of  the 
treaty  of  Ghent  before  an  arbitrator,  if  arbitration  should  be 
found  after  all  to  be  inevitable — it  was  finally  agreed  that 
the  Plenipotentiaries  should  meet  again  on  the  29th  instant 
in  order  to  communicate  definitively  on  the  subject  of  the 
Northwest  boundary. 
Adjourned. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


628  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 


Protocol  of  the  tiventieth  conference  of  the  American  and 
British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
on  the  2Qth  of  June,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  stated  and  explained  at 
length  the  sentiments  of  their  Government,  with  respect  to 
the  conflicting  claims  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
to  the  territories  in  North  America,  lying  between  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  They  declined 
the  proposal  made  on  this  subject  by  the  American  Plenipo 
tentiary,  and  annexed  to  the  12th  protocol,  because  it  would 
substantially  have  the  effect  of  limiting  the  claims  of  their 
Government  to  a  degree  inconsistent,  as  they  thought,  with 
the  credit  and  just  interests  of  the  nation.  After  much  dis 
cussion  and  mutual  explanation  of  the  claims  on  each  side, 
when  taken  in  their  full  extent,  it  was  agreed  that,  following 
the  example  given  by  the  American  Plenipotentiary  in  his 
proposal,  it  would  be  advisable  to  attempt  a  settlement  on 
terms  of  mutual  convenience,  setting  aside  for  that  purpose 
the  discordant  principles  on  which  the  respective  claims 
were  founded.  Whereupon,  the  British  Plenipotentiaries 
stated,  in  general  terms,  that  they  were  ready,  either  to 
agree  on  a  boundary  line,  to  be  drawn  due  west  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  along  the  49th  parallel  of  latitude,  to  the 
northeasternmost  branch  of  the  Columbia  or  Oregon  River, 
and  thence,  down  the  middle  of  that  river,  to  the  ocean,  or 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  629 

to  leave  the  3d  article  of  the  Convention  of  1818  to  its  na 
tural  course.  The  American  Plenipotentiary,  in  remarking 
upon  this  boundary,  declared  his  utter  inability  to  accede  to 
it ;  but  finding  that  the  line  offered  in  his  former  proposal 
was  considered  wholly  inadmissible  by  the  British  Pleni 
potentiaries,  said,  that,  in  the  hope  of  adjusting  the  ques 
tion,  he  would  so  far  vary  his  former  line  to  the  south,  as 
to  consent  that  it  should  be  the  49th  instead  of  the  51st  de 
gree  of  north  latitude. 

In  the  course  of  the  conference,  the  American  Plenipo 
tentiary  stated,  that  he  was  instructed  to  insist  on  the  prin 
ciple  that  no  part  of  the  American  continent  was  hencefor 
ward  to  be  open  to  colonization  from  Europe.  To  explain 
this  principle,  he  stated  that  the  independence  of  the  late 
Spanish  Provinces  precluded  any  new  settlement  within  the 
limits  of  their  respective  jurisdictions ;  that  the  United  States 
claimed  the  exclusive  sovereignty  of  all  the  territory  within 
the  parallels  of  latitude  which  include  as  well  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia,  as  the  heads  of  that  river,  and  of  all  its  tribu 
tary  streams ;  and  that,  with  respect  to  the  whole  of  the  re 
mainder  of  that  continent  not  actually  occupied,  the  Powers 
of  Europe  were  debarred  from  making  new  settlements,  by 
the  claim  of  the  United  States,  as  derived  under  their  title 
from  Spain. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  asserted,  in  utter  denial  of 
the  above  principle,  that  they  considered  the  unoccupied 
parts  of  America  just  as  much  open  as  heretofore  to  coloni 
zation  by  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  by  other  European 
Powers,  agreeably  to  the  Convention  of  1790,  between  the 
British  and  Spanish  Governments,  and  that  the  United 
States  would  have  no  right  whatever  to  take  umbrage  at 

O  O 

the  establishment  of  new  colonies  from  Europe  in  any  such 
parts  of  the  American  continent. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  added,  that  they  felt  them- 


630  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1824. 

selves  more  particularly  called  upon  to  express  their  distinct 
denial  of  the  principle  and  claims  thus  set  forth  by  the 
American  Plenipotentiary,  as  his  claim  respecting  the  terri 
tory  watered  by  the  River  Columbia  and  its  tributary 
streams,  besides  being  essentially  objectionable  in  its  gen 
eral  bearing,  had  the  eifect  of  interfering  directly  with  the 
actual  rights  of  Great  Britain,  derived  from  use,  occupancy, 
and  settlement. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the  twenty -first  conference,  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  3d  of  July,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  questions  of  maritime  law  were  taken  up.  The  Brit 
ish  Plenipotentiaries  stated,  with  reference  to  Mr.  Rush's 
communication  on  this  head,  as  recorded  in  the  protocol  of 
the  13th  conference,  that  the  sentiments  of  their  Govern 
ment,  respecting  the  impressment  of  British  seamen  in  time 
of  war,  were  unchanged  ;  and  that,  however  anxious  they 
were  to  reconcile  the  eventual  exercise  of  that  right  on  the 
high  seas  with  the  convenience  and  feelings  of  other  nations, 
they  could  not,  consistently  with  their  duty,  agree  to  wave 
it,  with  respect  to  the  vessels  of  the  United  States,  except  on 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  631 

receiving  a  full  and  efficient  security,  that  the  end  for  which 
it  was  occasionally  resorted  to  should  be  substantially  at 
tained  by  other  satisfactory  means.  That,  having  been  in 
formed  by  the  American  Plenipotentiary  that  he  had  to 
propose  no  measures  for  effecting  this  important  object 
essentially  differing  from  those  which,  in  former  negotia 
tions,  had  been  found  inadequate,  they  could  not  but  concur 
with  him  in  the  opinion,  that  any  discussion  of  the  ques 
tion,  at  the  present  moment  of  general  tranquillity,  would  be 
altogether  unadvisable. 

With  regard  to  the  other  maritime  questions  affecting  the 
relations  of  neutral  and  belligerant  powers,  the  British  Pleni 
potentiaries  observed,  that,  as  the  American  Plenipotentiary 
was  not  prepared  to  enter  into  stipulations  respecting  them, 
except  in  conjunction  with  the  subject  of  impressment, 
which  subject  was  not  to  be  entered  into,  for  the  reasons 
above  stated,  the  discussion  of  these  questions,  under  the 
present  circumstances,  would,  obviously,  be  attended  with 
no  practical  utility. 

They  expressed  themselves  willing,  at  the  same  time,  to 
treat  on  other  points,  not  falling  under  this  head,  but  con 
nected  with  the  improvement  of  friendly  intercourse  and 
good  neighborhood,  already  subsisting  between  the  two 
countries,  if  the  American  Plenipotentiary  felt  himself  at 
liberty  to  entertain  proposals  founded  on  this  principle. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  expressed  his  readiness  to 
receive  and  transmit  to  his  Government  any  suggestions  of 
this  description;  but  stated  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  pro 
pose  or  definitely  accept  any  stipulations  of  such  a  nature, 
except  in  conjunction  with  an  arrangement  as  to  the  mari 
time  questions.  Adjourned. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


632  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 


Protocol  of  the  twenty-second  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  9  Ik  of  July,  1824. 

PRESENT. — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over, 
and,  afer  some  discussion,  signed. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  stated  that  the  question 
of  abolishing  private  war,  and  all  capture  of  private  property 
at  sea,  was  considered  by  him  as  standing  apart  from  the 
other  questions  of  maritime  law,  which  had  been  heretofore 
discussed  between  the  two  Governments,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  perfectly  new,  and  had  been  proposed  by  his  Govern 
ment  to  other  European  Powers,  as  well  as  to  Great  Bri 
tain;  and  he  wished  it  to  be  understood  that  he  was  ready 
to  treat  on  that  question  alone,  notwithstanding  the  decision 
already  taken  upon  the  other  questions  of  maritime  war. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  said,  in  reply  to  this  state 
ment,  that,  under  the  circumstances  which  prevented  any 
present  discussion  of  the  questions  of  maritime  law,  dis 
cussed  in  former  negotiations,  there  would  be  manifest 
inconvenience  in  now  going  into  a  question  of  the  same 
class,  which,  besides  being  totally  new  as  an  object  of  dis 
cussion,  involved  the  most  extensive  change  in  the  princi 
ples  and  practice  of  maritime  war,  as  hitherto  sanctioned  by 
the  usage  of  all  nations. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  adverting  to  the  other 
points  not  falling  under  the  head  of  maritime  law,  but  con 
nected  with  the  improvement  of  friendly  intercourse  and 
good  neighborhood  between  the  two  nations,  on  which,  in 


1824.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  633 

the  preceding  conference,  they  had  offered  to  treat  inde 
pendently,  communicated  the  substance  of  nine  articles, 
which  they  had  been  prepared  to  give  in,  if  the  American 
Plenipotentiary  had  felt  himself  at  liberty  to  conclude  an 
arrangement  on  them,  and  on  which  they  declared  them 
selves  still  ready  to  enter  into  stipulations  with  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


Protocol  of  the  twenty-third  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  13th  of  July,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 


-• 


The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  in  more  complete  explana 
tion  of  the  statement  made  by  them,  in  the  twentieth  con 
ference,  gave  in  an  article,  comprising  the  counter-proposals 
of  their  Government,  as  to  the  Northwest  Boundary,  in 
America,  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
They  observed,  at  the  same  time,  that,  if  their  article  were 
accepted,  in  substance,  by  the  American  Government,  it 
would  be  necessary  on  framing  it  into  a  convention,  to  give 
its  details  and  accompanying  arrangements  a  more  distinct 
and  expanded  shape.  They  added,  that,  in  making  the 


634  RESIDENCE  AT  THE          [1824. 

annexed  proposal,  they  had  departed  considerably  from  the 
full  extent  of  the  British  right,  agreeably  to  the  readiness 
which  they  had  before  expressed,  to  settle  the  Northwest 
Boundary  on  grounds  of  fair  compromise  and  mutual  accom 
modation. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary,  in  receiving  the  above 
article  from  the  British  Plenipotentiaries,  remarked,  that  he 
wished  it  also  to  be  understood,  that,  in  proposing  a  modifi 
cation  of  the  article  originally  submitted  by  him,  on  this  sub 
ject,  he  had  been  governed  by  the  same  view. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary  introduced  the  question  of 
allowing  United  States  Consuls  to  reside  in  the  British  Col 
onial  Ports,  and  requested  to  be  made  acquainted  with  the 
sentiments  of  the  British  Government  thereon. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  referred,  in  reply  to  the 
counter  proposals  which  they  had  already  given  in,  on  the 
subject  of  colonial  intercourse;  of  which  proposals,  the 
reception  of  American  Consuls  formed  a  distinct  part. 

Mr.  Rush  observed  that,  the  residence  of  foreign  Consuls, 
in  any  country,  did  not  appear  so  much  to  depend  on  any 
particular  set  of  commercial  regulations,  as  to  belong  essen 
tially  to  trade,  under  whatever  form  it  might  be  carried  on ; 
and  he  supported  this  observation,  by  arguments  connected 
with  the  protection  of  merchants  trading  under  any  lawful 
circumstances  with  a  foreign  country. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  agreed  to  take  this  sugges 
tion  into  consideration  before  the  next  conference. 

Adjourned. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


18*24.]  COURT   OF   LONDON.  635 


Protocol  of  the  twenty -fourth  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  19M  of  July,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries  gave  in  the  annexed  paper, 
in  reply  to  the  argument  relating  to  the  free  navigation  of 
the  river  St.  Lawrence,  given  in  by  the  American  Plenipo 
tentiary  at  a  preceding  conference,  and,  in  like  manner, 
annexed  by  him  to  the  protocol. 

The  British  Plenipotentiaries,  referring  to  what  had  pass 
ed  at  the  preceding  conference,  on  the  subject  of  receiving 
United  States  Consuls  in  His  Majesty's  open  colonial  ports, 
stated,  that,  although  they  saw  no  objection  to  the  admission, 
into  those  colonies,  of  foreign  Consuls,  subject  to  the  usual 
exceptions  and  reservations,  while  foreign  vessels  were  in 
the  practice  of  carrying  on  a  lawful  trade  with  the  colonial 
ports,  they  conceived  that  there  would  be  inconvenience  in 
actually  recognizing  such  appointments  there,  so  long  as  it 
was  uncertain,  not  only  whether  the  proposals  which  they 
had  given  in  on  the  subject  of  colonial  intercourse,  would  be 
accepted  by  the  American  Government,  but  even  whether 
the  trade  now  carried  on  between  the  United  States  and  His 
Majesty's  colonies,  would  not  be  so  clogged  with  additional 
burthens  as  to  lead  to  its  total  interruption. 
Adjourned. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


636  RESIDENCE    AT   THE  [1824. 


Protocol  of  the  twenty-fifth  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  22d  of  July,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  Protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  American  Plenipotentiary,  referring  to  the  reply  given 
in  by  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  to  his  argument  on  the 
navigation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  and  annexed  to  the 
Protocol  of  the  preceding  conference,  made  observations 
tending,  in  his  opinion,  to  sustain  the  view  which  he  had 
before  presented  of  that  subject. 

It  was  agreed,  in  consideration  of  the  numerous  and  com 
plicated  questions  on  which  the  conferences  had  turned,  that 
the  Plenipotentiaries  should  meet  again,  and  communicate 
with  each  other,  prior  to  sending  in  to  their  respective  Gov 
ernments  their  final  reports  of  the  present  state  of  the  nego 
tiations,  suspended  by  the  necessity  of  referring  to  Washing 
ton  on  some  of  the  subjects  that  had  been  presented  for 
discussion.  Adjourned. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 

STRATFORD  CANNING. 


1824.]  COURT  OF  LONDON.  637 


Protocol  of  the  twenty-sixth  conference  of  the  American 
and  British  Plenipotentiaries,  held  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  on  the  28th  of  July,  1824. 

PRESENT — Mr.  Rush, 

Mr.  Huskisson, 

Mr.  Stratford  Canning. 

The  protocol  of  the  preceding  conference  was  read  over 
and  signed. 

The  Plenipotentiaries,  after  communicating  with  each 
other  in  pursuance  of  the  agreement  taken  at  the  preceding 
conference,  and  persuaded  that  they  had  sufficiently  de 
veloped  the  sentiments  of  their  respective  Governments  on 
the  various  subjects  of  their  conferences,  separated,  under 
the  circumstances  which  necessarily  prevented  for  the  present 
any  further  progress  in  the  negotiations. 

RICHARD  RUSH, 
W.  HUSKISSON, 
STRATFORD  CANNING. 


54 


638  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  [1825. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


LEVEE  AT  CARLTON  PALACE.  INFORM  MR.  CANNING  OF 
MY  RECALL,  AND  ASK  AN  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE 
KING,  A  TIME  FOR  WHICH  IS  APPOINTED.  THE  MIS 
SION  CLOSES  WITH  AN  AUDIENCE  OF  LEAVE  OF  THE 
KING. 

1825.  April  20.  The  official  matter  comprised 
in  the  dispatch  set  forth  in  the  preceding  chap 
ter,  needs  at  this  day  no  commentary  at  my  hands, 
and  might  be  out  of  place  coming  from  me.  I  leave 
it,  therefore,  in  connexion  with  the  authentic  pro 
tocols  subjoined,  for  whatever  of  information  the 
whole  may  impart,  or  reflections  it  may  suggest, 
to  the  general  reader.  The  simple  remark  I  will 
make  is,  that,  so  far  as  the  Oregon  question  is 
concerned,  the  field,  in  my  opinion,  is  still  ample, 
and  with  a  choice  of  modes,  for  settling  that  dispute, 
without  any  sacrifice  of  the  honor  or  interests  of 
either  the  United  States  or  Great  Britain. 

The  great  purpose  of  this  work  having  been  ful- 


1825.]          COURT  OF  LONDON.  639 

filled,  I  pass  over  all  intermediate  matter  occurring 
after  the  date  of  the  dispatch,  so  fully  published,  to 
bring  the  work  to  a  conclusion. 

Under  the  above  date  (April  20,)  I  attended  the 
levee  at  Carlton  Palace,  and  gave  Mr.  Canning  in 
formation  of  my  recall,  having  been  invited  home 
by  President  Adams,  to  preside  over  the  Treasury 
Department  at  Washington.  I  asked,  when  I  might 
hope  for  the  honor  of  a  special  audience  of  the  King 
to  deliver  my  letter  of  recall,  and  take  leave  of  His 
Majesty.  He  appointed  the  twenty-seventh  instant. 

Mr.  Canning  congratulated  me  in  friendly  terms 
on  the  home  trust  to  which  I  was  called,  and  propo 
sed  that  we  should  correspond  after  I  returned  to  the 
United  States;  to  which  I  was  happy  to  assent. 

I  had  half  an  hour's  conversation  with  Sir  John 
Copley,*  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  on  our  late 
Presidential  election.  Both  agreed,  that  its  quiet 
termination,  considering  the  number  of  candidates  in 
the  beginning,  namely,  Mr.  Crawford,  Mr.  Adams, 
General  Jackson,  Mr.  Clay,  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  spoke 
well  for  our  constitution,  and  the  political  habits  of 
the  people. 

April  27.  Had  my  audience  of  leave  of  the  King. 
I  said,  that  having  been  called  home  by  my  Govern- 

*  A  native  of  Boston — afterwards  called  to  the  peerage  as  Lord   Chancel 
lor  Lyndhurst. 


640  RESIDENCE,    ETC.    ETC.  [1825. 

ment,  I  had  the  honor  to  deliver  to  His  Majesty  a 
letter  from  the  President,  mentioning  his  intention  of 
recalling  me ;  in  delivering  which  I  was  charged  by 
the  President  to  say,  how  sincerely  it  was  his  desire 
to  maintain  in  all  respects  the  good  understanding 
which  had  subsisted  between  the  two  countries, 
during  the  period  I  had  resided  at  His  Majesty's 
Court. 

The  King  reciprocated  fully  and  cordially  the 
President's  desire,  and  thought  proper  to  add  that 
he  was  sorry  I  was  going  away,  though,  having  un 
derstood  the  cause,  it  was  to  be  expected.  He  used 
other  kind  words.  Lord  Bathurst  was  present  at 
the  interview.  I  thanked  His  Majesty  for  the  many 
tokens  of  kindness  with  which  he  had  honored  me 
during  so  long  a  residence  at  his  Court.  He  inquired 
as  to  the  time  of  my  embarkation,  probable  duration 
of  the  voyage,  health  of  my  family,  and  so  on ;  the 
conversation  lasting  about  fifteen  minutes,  when  the 
interview  closed. 


THE    END. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 


This 
Renewed  books  are  subject  "to  'immediate  recall. 

R*-C'D 


. 


APR  1  ^  1963 


LD  21A-50?n-12  '60 

(B6221slO)476B 


.General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


LD  21-20m-5,'39 (9269s) 


